Amina Mansur
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has assured Nigerians that the federal government is committed to increas power generation to boost power supply.
According to him, the FG has planned to raise power generation from current 4,000mw to 6,500mw in the next few months amid worsening electricity supply across the country.
Speaking during a meeting where he summoned heads of key agencies under his ministry, Adelabu also warned Distribution Companies (Discos) against rejection of load, stressing that this is enough ground to withdraw their licences.
Adelabu warned that henceforth, Discos must be ready to distribute at least between 90 percent and 95 percent of power supply to their jurisdictions or be ready to face regulatory sanctions.
Some of the agencies present at the meeting convened by the minister included Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), and Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
Adelabu also stated that the government could call for the recapitalisation of the Discos, as part of the policy document to be released before the end of March. He insisted that Discos needed to bring more funds into the sector to improve infrastructure.
The minister stated that he would also be very intentional about technical capacity development for the industry, and pointed out that it was still the old National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) staff that were running the industry.
Adelabu told his subordinates to rise up to the occasion and provide Nigerians the needed power, stressing that if their lacklustre activities affected his retention on the post, he would ensure they exited government with him.
The minister emphasised that currently, government subsidy was about 66 percent of tariff being paid by Nigerians for power consumption.
He said a draft policy to be released before the end of this March will see attempts at signing up to a minimum payment assurance for capacity in generating companies to ensure sustainability and stabilisation of generation output.