Minister says Nigerians should be proud of Nigeria

Speaking at an engagement workshop in Abuja, Fashola advised Nigerians not to put their country down in comparison with other countries of the world.

In his words: “Stop putting yourselves down, we are a great country. We have challenges, let us go and deal with them together”.

ALSO READ: We've recovered $64.6m electricity debt from international customers - Fashola

The former governor also said as a nation, Nigeria has taken great strides in the area of development and has the potential to compete favorably with other developed and emerging economies if the citizenry collectively resolved to tackle her identifiable challenges.

Fashola, who frowned at some Nigerians who put the country down in comparison with other countries both in and outside Africa especially in power production, explained that the power that any country needs is not only a function of its population but also a function of the level of its development and industrialization.

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“We have left mining. We are now in oil and gas. Dr. Fayemi in the Ministry of Mines and Steel is just trying to reset us back. We are trying to support their mining power demands whenever they are ready,” he said.

Speaking further on power and it's generation in Nigeria, Fashola said: “Niger is running on 80MW, Republic of Togo 200MW less than Abuja, Ghana is about 3,000MW installed capacity and they are not producing all of that; Lagos alone is getting 1200MW, one state, half of another country. So we must understand the dynamics of electricity use.

“Your country is exporting power too, to Niger, to Republic of Benin, to Togo and we are selling Gas to the West African sub-region.”

Advocating a collective resolve to solving the nation’s challenges rather than putting her down, Fashola said it would be hard for any individual to appreciate efforts of the government if the efforts aren't understood.

“If you don’t understand what we are saying and why we are saying it, it will be difficult to really appreciate where we even make progress,” Fashola said.

The Minister reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to the full implementation of the Power Sector Recovery programme (PRSP) as means of solving the seeming intractable challenges in the nation’s Power Sector saying the commitment could not be doubted because it was encapsulated in the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) where Power forms one of the five major pillars.

Power Generation

On Friday, February 2, 2018, the Federal Government said the implementation of the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) will ensure a minimum baseline daily power supply of 4,500Mega Watts (MW) from 2018.

What is the PSRP?

The PSRP is a series of policy actions, operational governance and financial interventions being implemented by Federal Government over the next five years to reset the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry for future growth.

The programme, among other objectives was designed to strengthen the sector’s institutional framework and improve power supply reliability to meet growing demand of electricity consumers in the country.

Nigerian ranked 2nd worst country in electric supply

Nigeria has been ranked the second worst country in electricity supply for 2017 by the Spectator Index after the country was only able to supply a daily average of 3,851 megawatts (MW) to its 180 million population.

According to the report, the electricity supply in 137 countries were examined and Yemen ranked as the worst nation with Nigeria, Haiti, Lebanon and Malawi following the war-torn middle east nation to round off a list of top 5 countries.

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Other African economies that ranked high on the list were Ethiopia (37th), South Africa (41st) and Algeria (45th).

National Grid failure

On Tuesday, January 2, 2018, there was a total collapse of the national grid. It was a national blackout arriving just hours after President Muhammadu Buhari touted his administration’s gains in the power sector in his New Year message.

The blackout was caused by a fire incident which blew up gas pipelines feeding power plants.