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President Goodluck Jonathan has promised Nigerians that the problem of epileptic power supply will soon be a thing of the past.
The President who commissioned the 220 megawatts rehabilitated gas turbine at Egbin power station in Lagos today, said that his administration’s power sector reforms is beginning to yield the desired results.
He recalled that since he launched the power sector roadmap in 2010 in Lagos, the sector has witnessed remarkable progress with several moribund power stations and plants being rehabilitated while others having their capacities boosted.
For the Egbin power station, the President expressed delight that with the recent rehabilitation, the station can now contribute 1320 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
“With this rehabilitation, the station has been restored to its full capacity of1320 megawatts for the first time in the history of the facility.
“Since we launched the roadmap in 2006, I have been encouraged by the progress we have made. And this is part of our transformational efforts in the power sector. Very soon, the problem of epileptic power supply will be history in this country. We shall be out of darkness. With the progress we have made, there will be no going back, we must stabilize power in the country.
“We are laying a sound foundation for a reliable and sustainable electricity industry. We are diversifying our energy sources. That is why we are exploring the prospects offered by coal and other sources. We can’t claim to be the largest economy in Africa with a stable power industry.”
Earlier, Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Osita Nebo commended the President for revitalizing most of the power facilities in the country in line with his promise to deliver stable power supply to Nigerians.
He said that under Jonathan, the power sector has not only been successfully privatized, it has also contributed significantly to the growth of the economy especially in the area of job creation.
According to the minister, for 16 years, the power sector under National Electric Power Authority, NEPA and Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, never employed any engineer while under the present transformation, 2000 engineers have been employed.
“What we are doing today is a celebration of privatization.”
It would be recalled that Egbin power station which is the largest in West Africa, was acquired by Sahara Power on November 1, 2013. The company then began the process of transforming the facility working through some Special Purpose Vehicles, SPV, in collaboration with its technical partners, the Korea Electric Corporation, KEPCO. [myad]
