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FG to Generate 6,600 Mega Watts in 2012 – Nnaji

By on January 23, 2012

According to the minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, Nigeria will generate 6,600 Mega Watts of Electricity in 2012.

Speaking at the opening of the Nigerian Power Sector Retreat in Abuja, the minister disclosed that one of the major issues affecting power generation was the inavailibility of gas. The minister disclosed that inadequate gas supply hampered power generation capabilities in 2011.

According to Nnaji, “We have about 5600 mega-watts already in place. We are expecting additional 1000 mega watts when our gas plants resume generation. The gas issue is also being addressed. The NNPC, NGC and the Petroleum ministry have agreed to resolve the issue and all our plants would be wet again. We have actually made significant improvement in the area of power generation so far. We may not have done hundred percent well given that with the over 170 million people according to the World Bank statistics, we should not be talking about just 6600 megawatts or even 8000 mega watts electricity generation, but significantly, we have made progress.”

Also speaking on the ongoing protests by workers in the former PHCN headquarters in Abuja, the minister stated, “You have over 1,000 people sitting idle in the headquarters. They don’t have anything to do but Nigerian people are paying them to sit in the headquarters. The law on reform has transferred all rights and everything to the successor companies. The workers are supposed to go to the successor companies; nobody is being relieved of their job. They are being transferred with their salaries; even their transfer allowances will go there, everything; they just need to go.  If you are working for a company, you cannot tell the people who employed you not to transfer you to a new location. If you happen not to like to be transferred, then you leave the place; that is how it is done.”

The workers are protesting the planned move due to fear of losing their jobs.