Challenges Besetting Power Sector Will Be Over Soon – Minister

THE Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has reassured Nigerians that the challenges facing the country’s power sector will soon be resolved.

He also revealed that significant funds have been allocated by the Federal Government to the energy sector. He however expressed regret that the majority of Nigerians are still grappling with persistent power issues.

Adelabu said this while visiting the Ihovbo Power Plant in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of Edo State.

According to him: “I have gone round the installations, and I am quite impressed with what we have here. Contrary to general belief, Nigeria has invested so much in power-generating plants. The plants are state-of-the-art facilities, and they are well-maintained. They are in a very good condition that can give us the kind of power generation that we need in this country, except that there are a lot of capacity distortions.

“I got to the Ihovbo Power Plant, which belongs to the Federal Government, under the Niger Delta Power Holding Company. It is a plant with four gas plants, in very good condition, with a capacity of about 125 megawatts each, totalling 500 megawatts.

“They are well-maintained plants. The running hours of each of the plants are all below 30,000, which means that effectively, they have not been run more than three years, even though they were installed almost eight or ten years ago. They are brand new turbines, but surprisingly, only one turbine is operational today here, generating about 100 megawatts of power, as against the installed capacity of 500 megawatts, which is just 20 per cent capacity utilisation, which is a gross lack of optimisation of our investment as a country.

“If we have put in so much into establishing the power plants, it should be able to give us the kind of power that we require. The militating factor is the shortage in gas supply, which we are working on. The good news is that succour is close to us, relief is close to these power plants, as the Federal Government, with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, and the Federal Ministry of Power met with President Bola Tinubu, and he mandated us to go and work out how we are going to defray the outstanding debts being owed.”

Eighteen-Eleven Media