Minister of Power - Nigerians enjoy 18 - 24 hours of power daily

The minister of Power, Sale Mamman has said that Nigerians now enjoy between 18 to 24 hours of electricity daily. He revealed this in an interview with NTA. 

He said the President Buhari-led administration had improved the infrastructure in the power system, and had upgraded the 330KVA which is the highest voltage in the country. He said, 

“We have also improved the 132 substations. Kashimbilla has been completed which is 40mw. We have reached up to 70 per cent of Zungeru in Niger. 

One of the biggest projects, the Mambilla, which has been lingering for over 40 years, has commenced.

We have improved our services. Before this government, they gave light for less than 10 hours a day, but today I can tell you that we give light from 18 to 24 hours in a day.”

He added that, 

“Before now, we had less than 3,000mw of capacity generation but today we can generate up to 5,500mw capacity although we cannot transmit all due to some constraints."

The minister of Power assured that power supply would further improve after Siemens AG of Germany begins work in the sector.

Buhari approves Nigeria, Siemens electricity deal funding

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has given the nod to a German firm, Siemens AG, to begin the concessionary funding and provision of technical support to the country’s power sector.

According to the official twitter handle of the Presidency, @NGRPresident, Buhari had already directed the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Ministry of Power and the Bureau of Public Enterprises “to conclude the engagement with Siemens AG to commence the pre-engineering and concessionary financing aspects of the Presidential Power Initiative.”

The PPI, which transited from the Nigerian Electrification Road Map, first muted in 2018, aims to upgrade power infrastructure in the country as part of efforts to halt frequent blackouts.

“All items to be purchased were provided by the distribution companies and Transmission Company of Nigeria and they will be vetted by a professional project management office,” the Presidency stated.

It explained that the concessionary terms included a three-year moratorium and a “12-year repayment at concessionary (interest rates) through the German Euler Hermes cover, which Nigeria will on-lend as a convertible loan to the other shareholders in the Discos.”

The Presidency added, “All Discos have, directly, and through the BPE, been diligently carried along over the last 15 months to understand in detail the challenges in the electricity system.

“The PPI is a power infrastructure upgrade and modernisation programme agreed to by Nigerian government and Siemens AG of Germany, with the support of the German Government.

Under the PPI, Nigerian government will on behalf of the other shareholders in the Discos invest in infrastructure upgrades in the form of improved payment systems, distribution substations, transformers, protection devices, smart meters, transmission lines, etc.

President Buhari has approved the release of funding for the first part of Phase 1 of the PPI, to kick off the pre-engineering and concession financing work streams.”

The two presidential spokespersons, Mr Femi Adesina and Mr Garba Shehu, did not respond to enquiries by The PUNCH to confirm the @NGRPresident tweets as of 6.05pm.