Expect uninterrupted power supply from December – FG

The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that the country would soon bid final farewell to power outages beginning from December, 2012 just as it has plans to generate 5,400 mega watts from the current 4,400 mega watts.

Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe told Jouranalists in Abuja on Monday that the president is no doubt leaving up to expectation on his election promises.

According to Mr Okupe, the 5,400 mega watts target will be actualize following the arrangement by the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) to add 1,000MW to the current 4,400 as against the little above 1,900MW before the president assumed office.

Mr Okupe said: “When the President assumed office, the energy capacity of the country at that time ranged between 1,900 megawatts to some 2,200 megawatts. The Independent Power Projects, 10 of them were grounded and nearly moribund, but today Nigeria is generating in excess of 4,400 megawatts of electricity.

“Some cynics have said this is due to high level of water in the hydro generating plants in Shiroro and Kanji. This isn’t true.

“I can tell you authoritatively that why it is true that every year there is a marginal increase in power supply, because of the increased contribution in the hydro plants, that cannot account for the 15 hours or so that is being currently enjoyed in many parts of the country.

Speaking further, Mr Okupe said “The reason for this additional increase is coming from the NIPP that are now adding between 600 and 800 megawatts to the national grid. That’s what is responsible for this new improvement and between now and December, we are expecting nearly an additional 1,000 megawatts, because of increase and an arrangement that have been made for purchase and supply of gas to some of these NIPP projects. More areas will enjoy longer hours of electricity supply by December.”