Tag: Power Sector

El-Rufa’i blames OBJ, YarAdua, others for power sector woes

Aminu Imam

…Says Nigeria wasted 15 yrs on under-investment Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufa’i, has lamented 15 years of propping up the electricity industry but without achieving set objectives. Speaking at the Nigeria Energy Exhibition and Conference, in Lagos yesterday, el-Rufa’i declared that the country has lost about 15 years on efforts in investment in the energy sector. According to him, the clear roadmap for structural reforms set up by the Obasanjo government in the electrical, power and oil and gas sectors were protracted, or abandoned, by his immediate successors. As examples,…

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Reps. move to stop privatisation of 5 Niger Delta Power Holding plants

Aminu Imam

The House of Representatives has resolved to stop the privatisation of five power plants of Niger-Delta Power Holding Company, (NDPHC). This followed the adoption of a ‘Motion of urgent public importance’ by the Chairman House Committee on Power, Rep. Magaji Aliyu, at the plenary in Abuja yesterday. He noted that the National Council on Privatisation and (NDPHC) Board of Directors, in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (PBE), had resolved to sell the power plants. Aliyu listed the five places to include Calabar, in Cross-River State, Ihorbor in Edo…

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Power supply to drop again, TCN alerts Nigerians

Aminu Imam

Power supply will drop by 50 megawatts on Wednesday, it was learnt. The Transmission Company of Nigeria, (TCN), in a statement on Monday, said the drop would be as a result of planned annual preventive maintenance on the line bay at Lekki Transmission Sub-station in Lagos. During the maintenance period, about 50MW will be interrupted, affecting the power supply to Lekki phase 1, Oniru, Elegushi, Waterfront, Igbo Efon, and Twenty-first Century Estate in Lagos State. TCN regrets all inconvenience this might cause electricity consumers in the affected area, the statement…

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FG to sell Discos shares to new investors

Aminu Imam

’Benin, Kaduna, Kano worst-performing DisCos’ – BPE The Federal Government, on Friday, declared that Benin, Kaduna and Kano electricity distribution companies (Discos) were the worst-performing ones among the 11 power distributors in Nigeria. It stated that based on this, the government through the Bureau of Public Enterprises, (BPE), and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC), had resolved to sell the majority interest in the three DisCos to competent investors. The BPE Director-General, Alex Okoh, disclosed this in an issued statement he personally signed, while reacting to the resistance by some…

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Shake-up in power sector as bank seize Benin, 3 other DisCos over debt

Aminu Imam

Fidelity Bank has taken over the control of Benin, Kaduna, and Kano Distribution Companies (DisCos) due to payment defaults. The bank has written to the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), which oversees the governments 40% stake in the DisCos that it has replaced the board members of the affected DisCos. The new board members for Kano DisCo are Hasan Tukur (Chairman), Nelson Ahaneku (Member), Rabiu Suleiman (Member); For Benin DisCo, the board members are KC Akuma (Chairman), Adeola Ijose (Member), and Charles Onwera (Member); while for Kaduna DisCo, the new…

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“Nigerias power sector has improved during my tenure”
Buhari

Aminu Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that during his tenure, the national grid has been modernised and there are hundreds of on-going projects and initiatives to attract funding from investors to further improve the power sector. The president made the revelations in a question and answer session with the international media outlet, Bloomberg News, published on Tuesday. Buhari also said he has started an initiative named Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) a government-to-government initiative between Nigeria and Germany to upgrade the electricity grid with a $2 billion investment. This is coming…

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Power sector needs $410bn to strengthen transmission, distribution infrastructure
Osinbajo

Aminu Imam

Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, (SAN), has said that for the countrys power transmission and distribution capacities to stabilise, another $410 billion would be required. Prof. Osinbajo stated this at a virtual event on climate finance, themed: Climate Finance and a Just, Equitable Energy Transition for Africa. According to him, Nigeria needs to upgrade its power infrastructure, especially for transmission and distribution, using a strategic mix of grid and mini-grid systems. “The nation needs an additional $410 billion above business-as-usual investment to meet these goals”, he stated. He added that the…

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SERAP asks Buhari to probe N11tr Electricity Fund as outage persists

Aminu Imam

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, (SAN), and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to promptly and thoroughly investigate how over N11 trillion meant to provide regular electricity supply has been allegedly squandered by governments since 1999. SERAP said anyone suspected to be responsible should face prosecution as appropriate, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, and any missing public funds should be traced and fully recovered. SERAPs letter followed the collapse of the…

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Electricity: NERC to hike tariff every 6 months over falling value of naira

Aminu Imam

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC) has revealed that electricity tariffs will now be increased every six months to adjust to foreign exchange and inflation requirements. This was disclosed by the NERC Chairman, Sanusi Garba, in Abuja on Wednesday, in response to concerns about rising electricity tariffs in the country. The Commission also added that the grid failure this week as a result of a trip-off caused by the conductor snap, which started from the 330 Kilo-Volt Ampree (KVA) from the Benin axis as well as vandalism of pipelines that…

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FG to increase power generation to 25,000MW Minister

Aminu Imam

The Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu, has said that the Buhari-led administration was worried about power generation hovering around 5,000MW. Speaking during an inspection tour of the facility in the company of Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufa’i, on Tuesday, the Minister 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. According to him, the 215MW Kudenda Power Station, in Chikun local…

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