Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, has said that power generation in Nigeria, which peaked at 5,170 megawatts on Friday, August 30, 2024, has ramped down by 1,400mw due to the inability of the distribution companies (Discos) to pick the power allocated to them.
The minister, who spoke on the development on Sunday,, decried the rejection of power by electricity distribution companies, describing it as regrettable.
“This is really regrettable considering that the government is on course to increase generation to 6,000MW by the end of the year,” the minister said in a statement on Sunday.
The Nigerian minister, who is China to attend the China-Africa Cooperation Summit, also disclosed that the Nigerian Government had concluded plans to release $800 million for the construction of substations and distribution lines under the Presidential Power Initiative.
According to the minister, the money will ensure the construction of substations for Lot 2, and substations and distribution lines for Lot 3 at a cost of $400 million each.
He explained that Lot 2 covers Benin, Port Harcourt, and Enugu distribution companies’ franchise areas, while Lot 3 covers Abuja, Kaduna, Jos, and Kano DisCos’ franchise areas.
Speaking during a facility tour of TBEA Southern Power Transmission and Distribution Industry in Beijing, China, the minister said that the Nigerian Government was committed to working with world-class organisations like TBEA to improve the power sector, especially in the areas of transmission and distribution, as well as renewable energy.
On the problems in the Nigerian power sector, which has hindered industrial growth, the minister said that it was due partly to the fragility of the transmission and distribution infrastructure, which had become old and dilapidated, leading to the historical epileptic supply of power to households, industries and businesses.
According to him, more than 59 per cent of industries in Nigeria are off the grid. “They do not see the national grid as reliable and dependable. So a lot of them now operate their own captive, self-generated power,” the minister said.
GIK/APA