Fashola says some states now enjoy constant power supply

chika ebuzor

March 27, 2019 9:36 PM

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, has revealed that some states in Nigeria currently enjoy near constant power supply.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola says power supply has improved across Nigeria (Guardian)

Fashola made this known on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, while speaking on a Channels Television breakfast program.

The Minister also said the Federal Government is committed to solving the perennial power supply problem in the country.

“Sitting down here I can tell you some states that have almost 24 hours – Kebbi, Yobe. Some have five, some have 10 and there are still outages.

“We are applying many solutions at the same time. So when we were talking about how much megawatts is being used, we have created a new page which will bring solution,” he added.

According to Fashola, power supply was so good in Kebbi, residents pleaded for irregular supply because they could no longer afford to pay their consumption bills.

Transmission capacity has increased

Fashola also tied the increase in power supply in some states to the increase in the transmission capacity, which he said is now about 8,100 megawatts.

“The generation capacity is also increasing.

“It is a value chain where the distribution is not matching up the available power and from time to time, there are slacks.

“The short term goals are incremental power and stable supply in some places.

“The government has decided that as 40 per cent holder of everything in the distribution of power, we have our programme to invest N72 billion which will involve installing transformers and all of that.

“We created a metre access provider regulation. What it does is to create a new plan of investment programme. We manufacture, produce, supply and install metres and fill the gap the distribution companies cannot raise capital to fill. They cannot do so alone, they must do so under a procurement policy with the distribution company," he said.

Fashola had earlier told Nigerians to channel their complaints about poor power supply to private investors who acquired power assets in the country since the power sector has been privatized.

According to Punch, he said it is really not the federal government’s problem if power supply remains poor across the nation.

chika ebuzor