The minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, has assured Nigerians that the ongoing power upgrade and investment in the power sector would improve electricity supply within the next three to six months.
Mr Adelabu gave the assurance during a working visit to some ongoing projects in Maryland and Alausa substations on Thursday in Lagos. Mr Adelabu visited Ikeja Electric and other ongoing projects in Lagos metropolis.
He disclosed that upgrading some substations in Lagos by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had commenced on 30 MVA transformers to 100 MVA and 205 MVA in Maryland and Alausa, respectively. The minister maintained that the federal government’s position on the implementation of a cost reflective tariff for the power sector was inevitable.
He said that investment across Distribution Companies (DisCos) was low due to the unavailability of funds to carry out infrastructure upgrades, appealing to the companies to ensure good service delivery to justify tariff review. He said the ministry would do all it could to ensure that DisCos up their games through massive investment, noting, “if that fails, it will resort to legal backing.”
Mr Adelabu bemoaned the rising cases of vandalism of power assets across the country, recommending capital punishment for vandals. He labelled vandals of power assets as “k+llers of people and saboteurs of business growth”. We need scapegoats. We are ready to give them the right punishment in terms of prosecution. Punishment for vandals should go beyond a six-month jail term. Capital punishment should be meted out for power vandals. They k+ll people, and they k+ll businesses,” he said.
Mr Adelabu added that all hands must be on deck among operators within the power sector value chain. He said it remained worrisome that the country with an installed capacity of 13,000MW was generating a paltry 5,000MW.
Mr Adelabu urged Nigerians to continue contributing positively to the growth of the country in spite of the current economic challenges. “It is a bad time for the country. I mean, if you look at the hardship in terms of commodities and prices, these have affected the purchasing power of a lot of people. I believe that this is the time for all of us to wake up and do things well for the country. Though, I am bothered about what is happening, but I am not discouraged.
This is the time that you (DisCos) should work hard with us to get desired improvements in power supply to people and businesses,” he added. He urged DisCos to work closely with the government to expedite national development through a sustainable power sector for reliable and cost-effective sustainable power supply.
