The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has called the CEOs of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to discuss the deteriorating power supply in their respective districts.
Sule Abdulazeez, Managing Director of Nigeria’s Transmission Company, has also been summoned to discuss the country’s deteriorating power situation since January of this year.
Since the beginning of the year, the national power supply situation has deteriorated significantly.
The problem is exacerbated by a debt of more than $1 billion to gas producers that supply the gas needed to run thermal gas-fired power facilities.
In addition, there have been several instances of transmission tower vandalism in various parts of the country, resulting in grid disruption and an ongoing decline in electricity transmission across the country.
Worried by the development, Adelabu, in a letter signed by the Director of Distribution Services at the Federal Ministry of Power, B.U Mustapha, instructed the CEOs of the Discos and TCN to attend a meeting scheduled for the following week.
They would examine issues surrounding the deterioration of electrical supply in their respective regions in order to provide long-term solutions.
A statement on Saturday by the minister’s Special Adviser, Strategic Communications and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, quoted Adelabu as saying that the management of other non-performing discos would also be queried over non-performance as reports continue to filter in on situation in their regions.
“These two discos have been summoned due to the worsening power supply situation in their regions despite improved supply from TCN,” the power minister stated.
According to the statement, gas shortage notwithstanding, the ministry had been putting pressure on the power generating companies to improve performance and generation had been ramped up to over 4,000 megawatts in recent days.
“So, we expect power supply to have improved across the country, unlike what we are experiencing in some regions, presently.
“Findings revealed that some distribution companies were deliberately not taking up power supply from TCN while some power lines were also damaged by vandals in Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt and Ibadan regions,” Adelabu stated.
Going forward, the minister said focus would be on all the discos to compel them to expected performance while, “wilful non- performance by any disco could suffice as a reason for severe punishment or outright license revocation.”
The minister also directed TCN to immediately commence repair works on the damaged transmission towers and power lines in order to improve supply in the affected regions.
Recall that the minister had embarked on supervisory visits to some of the power generating plants in the last few months.
He was in Kainji hydro power plant which would soon embark on an expansion plan to boost the existing 560MW operational capacity.
He also visited Benue and Taraba states to assess the infrastructure being constructed to evacuate an additional 30 megawatts from the Kashimbilla hydo power station to the national grid.
Presently, only 10MW is being evacuated from the hydro power plant.
The minister was also in Olorunshogo and Omotosho thermal plants in Ogun and Ondo states, Ihvobor and Azura power plants in Edo State.
During the visits, the minister assured these power plants that plans were underway by the Federal Government to defray part of the outstanding debts being owed the power generation companies and the gas supply companies.
“With this, succour is close to electricity consumers nationwide as we expect this action to improve generation levels across the country,” Adelabu stated.
He also appealed to electricity consumers to exercise a little patience while the situation was being turned around.