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Ministry blames poor power supply on vandalism

By on February 19, 2015

The Federal Ministry of Power on Tuesday expressed optimism that electricity generation in the country would hit 6,000 megawatts this year if the growing cases of vandalism were effectively addressed by relevant security agencies.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Godknows Igali, stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power during the ministry’s budget defence session.

He lamented that one of the major problems confronting the power sector was the activities of vandals who were blowing up gas pipelines.

“Once we go above 4,000 megawatts, people bring us down to 2,000; there is no country where its own citizens will blow up pipelines supplying gas to the power plants. If these vandals can allow the gas to flow, we will get to over 6,000 megawatts,”Igali said.

He explained that most of the power plants had been linked to gas pipelines and were contributing to increase in power generation.

The permanent secretary pleaded with the committee to revert to a close session so that the ministry could react to an allegation that the Benin Power Plant was a complete failure, saying that the issues involved were too complex to be discussed openly.

He said, “Going into 2015, Nigerians will have more electricity; all the new owners of the power plants are pumping in more money and generating more power.

“There is a spirited effort by the new owners to deal with the teething problems and Nigerians will have more electricity.”

Igali noted that the power sector had been attracting a lot of investor confidence while there was massive training of young people.

 

[Punch]