Nigerian govt gives reason for inadequate power supply

The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, on Wednesday blamed the country’s inability to produce up to 5,000 megawatts of electricity on lack of gas supply.

The minister spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

Aliyu’s remark came just one month after the ministry assured Nigerians that the country’s power generation would reach 5,000MW.

He said: “Regarding the drop in electricity, yes, you know, the supply has so many players. The issue of gas to some power is a complex one. They cannot switch on their plant, if they do you will experience some drop once they switch on, and the electricity will increase.

“There may be a drop due to the fault of the generator and the electricity may drop. It’s mostly generation. I’ve been watching since like yesterday (Tuesday) evening, we had a generation of around 4,600 megawatts. And you know, we told you since 1st July, that we’ll be able to raise it to 5000 when we activate the contract.

READ ALSO: Electricity workers suspend strike

“And we have not been able to do so, due to some issues around gas contracts and gas to power which we are trying to take care of. And we have gone very far with that, and I believe, it is for that reason that we were able to reach up to 4,600 as of yesterday.

“The challenges of inadequate gas supply are not something that we control directly; you have to pay the suppliers. They will not give you gas until you pay. So, we are looking at ways to solve that issue.

“It is the reason we are unable to reach that 5,000MW we promised you by July 1 of this year. But as you will see from that date, July 1, we have been around 4,000MW since then.”

Nigeria’s power grid collapsed earlier on Wednesday following the indefinite strike by members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE).

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