The Federal Government has asked Nigerians to have patience over the current situation of the nation’s energy supply, highlighting the need for time for ongoing initiatives to result in an increase in the supply of power to households and businesses.
Abubakar Aliyu, the minister of power, stated at a speech in Abuja that flooding, port-related difficulties, and insecurity were preventing the completion of certain ongoing energy projects in the nation.
Aliyu revealed that the $2.3 billion Siemens-Nigeria power deal was still on track while examining certain projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
While some of the Siemens deal’s transformers are being cleared from the port and will be installed over the following few days, Aliyu revealed that a team of Nigerian experts will be heading abroad in the next 17 days to test some of the upcoming transformers before they are sent to Nigeria.
While some of those transformers are on the water, he added, there are clearance challenges as well as flooding that affected shipment to the essential sites. He also revealed that thus far, Nigeria has undertaken factory acceptance tests in Germany, France, and Italy. Three of the mobile substations, according to him, have through testing and will be delivered in January 2019.
When asked what advice he would give Nigerians on the state of the power supply, he responded, “Patience.”
These are lengthy jobs that require patience to finish. Starting today and finishing tomorrow is not possible. The majority of the equipment you see was not made in Nigeria, and projects take time.
Obtaining cash, getting the equipment to Nigeria, and other steps in the value chain all take time, according to Aliyu.
Although instability has slowed down the completion of several projects, Aliyu claimed that measures had been taken in conjunction with the military to secure the projects’ success.
“We are working round the clock to face it head on. We already have military personnel that are helping in this regard. Zungeru would have been completed since January but you know what happened where the insecurity stalled that project but now everything is progressing.”
According to him, the Abuja Ring Project would have increased FCT’s transmission wheeling capacity by around 1465 megawatts (MW) and adding 870MW transformers to the Dawaki, Apo, Lokogoma, Lugbe, and Kuje districts.
Aliyu stated that he was pleased with the project’s progress and added that it would be finished in stages in November and December.
