FG to Raise Power Output to 9,000MW

Minister of Power, Bart Nnaji

By Chuks Okocha  and Onyebuchi Ezigbo 

The Federal Government Sunday raised hopes of improvement in power supply as it announced plans to raise electricity output from the current 4,300 megawatts (mw) to a record 9,000mw in “the next few months”.

A statement from the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, which detailed the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan since his inauguration in May 2011, said government would attain the new output when it completed the 10 projects under the National Integrated Power Plants (NIPP).

The statement was in response to the criticism by former Federal Capital Territory Minister and chieftain of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who accused the presidency of “seeking to outsource governance”. 

It said on assumption of office, Jonathan inherited 10 abandoned projects under the NIPP and had since then revitalised the projects.

The projects, which on completion, will add additional 4960mw to the national grid are: Ihovbor in Edo State (451mw), Omotosho in Ondo State (451mw), Olorunsogo in Ogun State  (750mw), Sapele in Delta State (451mw), Geregu in Kogi State (434mw), Egbema in Imo State (338mw), Gbarain in Bayelsa (225mw), Omoku in Rivers State (225mw), Calabar in Cross River State (561mw) and Alaoji in Abia State (1074mw).

“This administration met 10 abandoned NIPP projects and has successfully revitalised all. More importantly, they are all within the range of 95-100 per cent completion stage and are awaiting gas supply, which government has taken very concrete steps to address.

“Government has improved power generation from under 3,000mw in 2011 to 4,300mw by August 2012. Therefore, when the 10 NIPP projects are fully on stream, which will be within the next few months, the total national generation capacity will not be less than 9000mw, a 200 per cent increase in generating capacity as compared with the figures for 2011 and the highest ever by any administration since independence,” the Federal Government said in the statement signed by the Media Director in the office, Mr. Olusanya Awosan.

On transportation, the statement said the government had rehabilitated 3,000 kilometres out of 3,505 kilometres of existing narrow gauge rail lines, while the Lagos-Kano corridor would be completed this year and that of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri corridor would be ready next year.

The government said the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri modern standard gauge rail line was nearing completion with the entire track 100 per cent laid, while the contract for a second similar standard modern gauge line between Lagos and Ibadan had been awarded.

The statement also brandished the government’s achievements in agriculture to include elevating the living standards and income of farmers and rural dwellers through the free distribution of millions of improved seedlings including cotton, sorghum, rice and cassava.

The government, which plans to double cocoa production from its present 250,000 metric tonnes to 500,000 metric tonnes per annum by 2015, is also working assiduously to leverage on Nigeria’s status as the world’s largest producer of cassava to make it the largest exporter of the product globally.
According to the statement, flour millers who initially resisted government’s directive for three per cent local substitution with cassava, have on their own increased the substitution ratio to 20 per cent.

It cited the popular sausage roll, gala, a snack manufactured by UAC Nigeria Plc, which has a substitution ratio of 20 per cent cassava mix, adding that this has resulted in considerable foreign exchange savings and increased income for farmers and agro-allied processors.

“Besides, the government, through the public private partnership (PPP) initiative, has attracted $40 million foreign investment to rice production and milling in Taraba State,” the statement added.

The investment will produce 300,000 metric tonnes of rice, which accounts for 15 per cent of national rice imports and create 15,000 jobs.

“This administration is facilitating the establishment of the largest high quality rice processing mills with an overall installed processing capacity of two million tonnes per annum which will also be the largest installed milling capacity in Africa. It will be private sector driven and established in rice producing states,” it said.

It added that three new rice-processing mills in Ebonyi, Niger and Kebbi States with combined 90,000 metric tonnes of milled rice per annum had been completed.

The presidency listed infrastructure projects to be completed to include 180 kilometres of rural roads and 77 kilometres of feeder roads completed within the last 12 months as well as the establishment of 10 export crop preservation and conditioning centres in Kebbi, Kaduna, Cross River, Nasarawa, Gombe and Enugu States.

The government has also established eight agro-processing centres, completed 10 additional silo complexes with total capacity of 550,000 metric tonnes, 100,000 metric tonne capacity silos located in FCT, Borno, Zamfara and Kebbi States, as well as the 25,000-metric-ton capacity located in Taraba, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Katsina and Sokoto States.

On the provision of water supply, the statement said the government had completed water supply projects in Northern Ishan, Edo State with a plant capacity of nine million litres per day to serve communities of Uromi, Ubiaja, Ugengu, Ugboha and Igueben, with a total projected population of 500,000 by 2012 at a cost of N2.5 billion.

It also listed the 10 million litres per day Mangu water treatment plant in Plateau State at the cost of over N1 billion.

“With these few highlighted developmental efforts and activities of the government, all the fallacies, deceits, misinformation and disinformation about incompetence and non-performance of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration are unfounded not supported by facts on the ground and are therefore are outright falsehood,” the statement stressed.

Meanwhile, CPC has accused the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin  Okupe, of unwarranted attacks on two of its leaders, Pastor Tunde Bakare and el-Rufai, for their opposing views.

Both Bakare and el-Rufai came under fire last week following their calls for the president’s resignation.

Okupe had described the CPC leaders as political opportunists and power-hungry politicians who were desperate for political office and not sincere in their criticism of the government.

However, CPC in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said Okupe's disparaging remark was not in consonance with decent, diplomatic comportment.

Fashakin said the party could not understand why Okupe choose to cast aspersions on Bakare’s pastoral calling because of his political activism.

He said the party was dismayed at the desperate attempt by Okupe to justify his appointment and invariably satisfy his employers in unleashing unwarranted attacks on Bakare and el-Rufai.

Source: Thisday Live