By Francis Ogwo
Nigeria’s installed grid power generation capacity has reached 13,000MW from 8,000MW under the leadership ofPresident Muhammadu Buhari.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Mr Saleh Mamman, on Wednesday during the 2021 budget defence before the House of Representatives Committee on Power in Abuja.
According to him, the distribution system had the capacity to evacuate 5,500MW of power having grown from 4,500MW in 2015.
“Under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s grid power capacity has increased significantly from the time this administration took over in 2015 to date.
“During the period between 2015 to date, the sector has recorded successes and has faced challenges.
“In order to deliver this administration’s promise of providing stable and affordable power to Nigerians, a way forward was defined and supported by Mr President’s political will,” he said.
The committee however expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of the minister in sanctioning Distribution Companies (DisCos) for alleged “gross irresponsibility and wickedness in the execution of their contract”.
The committee chairman, Alliyu Magaji, who represents APC Jigawa, asked the minister to be hard on the DisCos with heavier sanctions, to enable them to sit up and provide the desired services to Nigerian people.
Magaji noted that if the minister ensured the sanction of the DisCos, he would become the darling of lawmakers and the entire Nigerians.
He added that as far as the House was concerned, the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) was still under the purview of his committee.
Magaji further stated that the legislators were not comfortable with the purported transfer of the parastatal to the Ministry of Finance
(NAN)
