The federal government on Wednesday said it earned a total of N393 billion in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) in the first half (H1) of 2022- the highest in eight years.
Abubakar Aliyu, minister of Power said this at the 11th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard 2019-2023 organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in Abuja.
The minister also disclosed that in the recent October billing cycle, the sector recorded a new milestone with the highest ever collections in history at N74 billion.
He said, “We have done all of this while protecting our lower income citizens (that do not always receive adequate electricity) by maintaining subsidies for the lower tariff bands while allowing those with adequate power to pay
relatively higher prices.”
“Tariff shortfalls have been reduced by over 80 percent and we are on the path to having a sustainable market that can pay for itself.”
The minister claimed that a review of the electricity supply industry shows that Nigeria has a much healthier industry than what was inherited from prior administrations.
“You cannot have stable power without a healthy industry. Our challenge is too big to be shouldered only by the Government and investors only put money into sectors that are healthy and performing. An objective assessment would show that the economics of the power sector are beginning to make sense,” he said.
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” In 2021, the Q2 record growth rate of 5 percent by the Nigerian Economy (as recorded by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics-NBS) had a large contribution from the power sector with a 78 percent Year-on-Year growth (largely driven by liquidity reforms),” he added.
Speaking on the National Mass Metering Program, Aliyu said the programme has been successful with 1 million meters rolled out in the first phase.
He informed that plans are being perfected for an additional 6 million meters under the second and third phases of the program that will commence in the 1st quarter and 2nd quarters of 2023
respectively.
He added that the first phase generated 10,000 jobs in installation and assembly, while protecting that over 20,000 additional jobs would be generated in the second phase.”
Both the phases have sustainable financing structures. We are also establishing a Meter Service Fund that will allow for continuous metering in the NESI as a legacy of the Buhari Administration,” he added.
Speaking further on Buhari’s achievement in the sector, he said a total of 105 Power Transformer projects were completed during the period 2015 – 2022, adding a capacity of 6,216MVA to the grid, with 73 of the power transformers installed in substations across the nation.
Aliyu also said that the Buhari-led administration will bequeath to Nigerians 4,000MW of additional generating capacity. He added, “We will complete and commission the 700MW Zungeru Hydro Power Plant in the 1st quarter of 2023. We will also see the operationalization of the 240MW Afam III and 300MW Okpai Phase II to mention a few. We will set the country on a stable path for 10,000MW
of supplied energy (today we are at 8,000MW with 5,000MW on-grid and 3,000MW+ of industrial captive off-grid) and we will leave an installed capacity of almost 22,000MW.
“We also have robust programs ongoing with facilities and investments secured of over $3 billion to eliminate the large gap between our transmission capacity and supplied energy,” he further said.
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