By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Nigeria’s Minister of Power Abubakar Aliyu has explained why the country is experiencing fluctuation in electricity supply even as he revealed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved an additional revised sum of N2,740,000,000 for building structures of compensation and resettlement of the communities affected by the construction of 700 megawatts Zungaro Hydro electric power project.
The Minister has also disclosed that both his ministry and other relevant government agencies are working hard to stop the Electricity Workers Union hence there will not be any industrial action by the members.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, Aliyu said the drop in electricity supply being witnessed in Nigeria at the present is as a result of low gas supply.
According to him: “Regarding the drop in electricity supply, yes, you know, the supplier has so many players, gas is the cause of that drop. Issues of gas to some power plants they cannot switch on their plant, you will experience some drop once they switch on, the electricity it will increase.
“There may be drop due to fault of generator and the electricity would drop. Its mostly generation. I’ve been watching since like yesterday evening (Tuesday), we had a generation of over 4000, around 4600 megawatts”.
“And you know, we told you since 1st July, that we’ll be able to raise it up to 5000 when we activated the contract. And we have not been able to do so, due to some issues around gas contracts, 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’re able to reach up to 4600 as of (Tuesday) yesterday”.
“This morning (Wednesday), it dropped to 4,100. So, this is what is happening, you will be experiencing this fluctuation due to all these issues around gas to power, because gas is not something that we control directly, you have to pay them, they will not give you gas until you pay”.
“So, we are looking at ways to solve that issue. It is the reason why we are unable to reach that 5,000 we promise you by July 1 of this year. But as you will see that date, July 1st, we have been around 4,000 megawatts since then”.
“Even if you experience a drop, it may not be throughout the day, you will see in the evening it will rise up again, just like I say 4600 megawatt at at yesterday evening. So this is the situation. So we’re working round the clock to ensure that we raised the capacity to the required level”.
On the widely publicised strike action embarked upon on Wednesday by Electricity Workers Union, the Minister told journalists that Minister of State, Power and Head of Service of the Federation did not attended FEC meeting because they are meeting with the leadership of the Electricity Union to prevent them from embarking on the industrial action.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, has revealed that Council on Wednesday gave
approval of revised estimates total costs for the updated rates of building structures of compensation and resettlement of the communities affected by the construction of 700 megawatts Zungaro Hydro electric power project in the total sum of N2,740,000,000.
Said he: “Today, I approached Council to seek for approval of revised estimates total costs for the updated rates of building structures of compensation and resettlement of the communities affected by the construction of 700 megawatts Zungaro Hydro electric power project in the total sum of N2,740,000,000 which will revise the subsisting amount from N19,640,000,000 to N22,380,000,000 and the Council graciously approve the request”.
