BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – The Minister of Power, Engineer Abubakar Aliyu says a set target of about 25,000 megawatts of electricity is achievable by Nigeria in the next few years.
He said concerned about the epileptic power generation that currently hovers around 5,000MW, the Federal Government is mobilising efforts towards increasing it to 7,000MW, then 11,000 MW before finally reaching 25,000MW within the next few years.
Engineer Aliyu explained that this target is realisable with the 215MW Kudenda power station in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state, now at about 80 per cent completion, scheduled for commissioning soon.
According to him, the turbine power station, designed to use both gas and diesel, was initiated by late President Umaru Yar’ Adua but started by former President Goodluck Jonathan only to be abandoned in the twilight of that administration despite nearing completion.
The Minister, who spoke during an inspection tour of the facility with Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state on Tuesday, said the “present administration is worried about the power generation hovering around 5,000MW, and efforts are in top gear to quickly increase it to 7,000MW, then 11,000 MW before finally reaching 25,000MW in a few years time”.
Engineer Aliyu, who noted that the power station project started in 2012 and had reached over 80 per cent completion before the work was stalled, said; “Now, we are trying to revive it.
“There are four partners and we are discussing with them to see how we can complete the project and bring it on stream. It would be powered by diesel first before the supply of gas because it uses a dual source of power.
“This year is the year of delivery, the present situation we are in is not good enough, we have to improve. The power generated has been 5,000MW for a long time, it would be going down without investment which is why we are having system collapse, we had 15 or 16 years back, last year it was only two system collapse.
“Within six months, you will see the electricity of this country improve. The Siemens which is an agreement struck between Nigeria and Germany will come on stream, there are 10 massive transformers to be deployed all around the country in specific locations. We also deployed 175 mobile substations some greenfield, some brownfield, which are going to construct.
“This is 215MW, we have lots of them; Gurara Dam with 30MW, Zungeru with 700MW, Kashimbila has given 40MW to the grid, Dadinkowa also 40MW. We will increase energy. I was in Katsina on new year day January 1 to inspect the windmill which will produce 10MW and a 330KVA transmission line to Kano.”
He admitted that the major challenge of electricity supply in Nigeria is the poor transmission of power generated, but assured the government is working assiduously to harvest the generated power; transmit them; and generally improve electricity supply nationwide.
The Minister, while lamenting that most power facilities in the country were allowed to become moribund, however assured that the President Muhammad Buhari’s administration will not relent in bringing them back to life and ensuring stable electricity reaches every Nigerian household devoid of the frequent power outages being witnessed in the country.
