Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power has announced that the President Tinubu administration, in the last one year has achieved a 20-hour daily supply of electricity to over 40 per cent of Nigerians. Thus he said is part of the President’s renewed hope agenda to galvanise the nation’s economy.
Adelabu who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, said that the feat is a result of many of the revolutionary measures being undertaken by the Power Minister, with the support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who according to him, consistently advocated that Nigeria can be great and achieve breakthrough in industrialization, through a stable and consistent power supply.
According to Adelabu, upon resumption as the minister of power, the nation had an installed generation capacity of 13,000 megawatts. Still, it was only producing, transmitting, and distributing about 4,000 megawatts. Still, the ministry within the last one year has achieved power generation of over 5,500 megawatts, adding that efforts were ongoing further to increase this record by the end of 2024.
“At that time, there was an epileptic supply. Almost all residential and commercial customers could not be guaranteed 12-15 hours of supply. Additionally, the adoption of renewable energy was skeletal in terms of solar or wind sources of energy.
“Between then and now, which is about a year, there has been significant improvement. Today, our installed capacity is over 14,000 megawatts of power due to the addition of the newly commissioned Zungeru hydroelectric power plant and improved capacity of some of the existing power plants.
“Moreover, the major achievement is the fact that today we generate over 5,500 megawatts of power, we transmit and distribute it, and over 40% of customers today enjoy over 20 hours of regular power supply across the nation. You can see that there is a significant improvement between when we came in and now, which we intend to improve further”, he said.
The Minister who noted that stable electricity in any economy cannot be overemphasized, said that for most developed nations, the first thing they got right was to achieve reliable, functional, and affordable electricity, especially for their industries, businesses, institutions, and households.
“This is why you see great economies like Korea, China, Europe, and North America industrialized today. Their stability in electricity supply has been instrumental to their economic growth and industrial development.
“That’s why we say that we must achieve this for Nigeria as a country. We need to achieve the requisite economic growth and industrial development. Our dear president, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, included this in the Renewed Hope Agenda as a major electoral policy to Nigerians. In his New Year speech on the 1st of January, 2024, he emphasized the need for the country to have stable, functional, and reliable electricity to drive other critical sectors. This is the only way we can achieve the required economic growth and industrial development. None of the critical sectors can function optimally without electricity stability and functionality.
“Therefore, our vision is to ensure that we provide households, businesses, and institutions (educational and health institutions as well as industries) with stable electricity supply. This will enable them to power their activities, improve their capacity, and create more jobs.
“In a country like South Korea, industrial giants like Samsung, Hyundai, and LG didn’t just become global giants overnight. They were supported by the government through the provision of stable and reliable electricity for their operations. This is the vision we have for Nigeria. At the end of the day, a large proportion of our population will be electrified, industries will enjoy stable electricity, and this will increase production and create employment for our people.”
The Minister added that the mandate of the ministry is to engender national development through the formulation of appropriate policies, the establishment of proper structures and institutions to ensure or achieve stable, functional, reliable, and affordable electricity supply to households, businesses, institutions, and industries. This he said will yield the desired economic growth and industrial development.
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