POWER outages will be a phenomenon of the past for long-suffering Nigerians by December, if assurances given by the government are anything to go by.
In a chat with journalists in Abuja on Monday, the recently-appointed senior special assistant on public relations to President Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said that the government is targeting 5,400 megawatts of electrical power, up from the current level of 4,400 megawatts, to guarantee an uninterrupted regime of power supply.
“When the President assumed office, the energy capacity of the country at that time ranged between 1,900 megawatts to some 2,200 megawatts. The Independent Power Projects, 10 of them were grounded and nearly moribund, but today Nigeria is generating in excess of 4,400 megawatts of electricity,” he said.
The presidential aide said that the additional 1, 000 megawatts will come at the instance of plans made with the National Integrated Power Project, codenamed NIPP.
Okupe pooh-poohed the suggestion from sections of the Nigerian citizenry that the relative stability being witnessed in parts of the country was the result of higher water levels at the iconic Kainji Dam in Niger State, saying such couldn’t be further from facts at his disposal.
“The reason for this additional increase is coming from the NIPP that are now adding between 600 and 800 megawatts to the national grid. That’s what is responsible for this new improvement and between now and December, we are expecting nearly an additional 1,000 megawatts, because of the increase and an arrangement that have been made for purchase and supply of gas to some of these NIPP projects. More areas will enjoy longer hours of electricity supply by December,” he said.
“Some cynics have said this is due to high level of water in the hydro generating plants in Shiroro and Kanji. This isn’t true.
“I can tell you authoritatively that why it is true that every year there is a marginal increase in power supply, because of the increased contribution in the hydro plants, that cannot account for the 15 hours or so that is being currently enjoyed in many parts of the country.”
Dr. Okupe did not miss the opportunity to showcase the current relative stability of power supply, along with the expected milestone in December, as indicative of President Jonathan’s commitment to effect a lasting improvement in the power sector – a promise he made while campaigning for office.