The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, on Sunday, said that the number of Nigerians that currently have access to over 20 per cent of electricity had hit 40 percent, implying that over 80 million Nigerians now enjoy top level power supply.
He credited the ‘achievement’ to ‘certain revolutionary measures’ which he said were taken to ensure that Nigerians enjoy more stable and regular electricity supply, noting it was with the support of President Bola Tinubu.
A statement in Abuja by the minister’s spokesman, Bolaji Tunji, said that the minister spoke while reviewing the activities of the ministry in the last one year on the eve of the October 1 independence celebration.
“The minister also revealed that more than 40 per cent of Nigeria’s electrified consumers is currently enjoying over 20 hours of regular and stable electricity across the nation. He said this was due to the radical and bold steps that were taken,” Adelabu was quoted as saying.
According to him, the president had consistently advocated that Nigeria can be great and achieve breakthrough in industrialisation, through a stable and consistent power supply.
He said one of the major and significant achievements of his ministry within the last one year is that Nigeria now generates over 5,500 megawatts of power, explaining that the ministry was working to improve on this ‘record’ by the end of the year.
Adelabu noted that stable electricity in any economy was important to the development of any nation, stressing that the first thing any nation should get right is to achieve reliable, functional, and affordable electricity, especially for their industries, businesses, institutions, and households.
“This is why you see great economies like Korea, China, Europe, and North America industrialised today. Their stability in electricity supply has been instrumental to their economic growth and industrial development.
“That’s why we say that we must achieve this for Nigeria as a country. We need to achieve the requisite economic growth and industrial development. Our dear president included this as a major electoral policy to Nigerians.
“ In his New Year speech on January 1, 2024, he emphasised the need for the country to have stable, functional, and reliable electricity to drive other critical sectors. This is the only way we can achieve the required economic growth and industrial development. In fact, none of the critical sectors can function optimally without electricity stability and functionality.
“Therefore, our vision is to ensure that we provide households, businesses, and institutions , including educational and health institutions as well as industries with stable electricity supply. This will enable them to power their activities, improve their capacity, and create more jobs.
“In a country like South Korea, industrial giants like Samsung, Hyundai, and LG didn’t just become global giants overnight. They were supported by the government through the provision of stable and reliable electricity for their operations.
“This is the vision we have for Nigeria. At the end of the day, a large proportion of our population will be electrified, industries will enjoy stable electricity, and this will increase production and create employment for our people”, the minister said.
He added that the mandate of the ministry was to engender national development through the formulation of appropriate policies, the establishment of proper structures and institutions to ensure or achieve stable electricity supply to households, businesses, institutions, and industries.
“This will enable us to achieve the desired economic growth and industrial development. We also provide general oversight to ensure the overall well-being of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). This is the mandate of the ministry.
Upon resumption, Adelabu stated that Nigeria had an installed generation capacity of 13,000 megawatts, but was only producing, transmitting, and distributing about 4,000 megawatts of power to the entire country.
“This was quite low and unacceptable given our population and level of economic activities. Therefore, we were determined to improve the situation.
“At that time, there was epileptic supply. Almost all customers, both residential and commercial, could not be guaranteed 12-15 hours of supply. Additionally, the adoption of renewable energy was skeletal in terms of solar or wind sources of energy.
“Between then and now, which is about a year, there has been significant improvement. Today, our installed capacity is over 14,000 megawatts of power due to the addition of the newly commissioned Zungeru hydroelectric power plant and improved capacity of some of the existing power plants.
“Moreover, the major achievement is the fact that today we generate over 5,500 megawatts of power, we transmit and distribute it, and over 40 per cent of customers today enjoy over 20 hours of regular power supply across the nation, “he said.
Emmanuel Addeh
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