The Federal Government has blamed the prevailing power situation in the
country on gas failure as well as sabotage and vandalization of power
infrastructure, while apologizing to Nigerians for the hardship which the
situation has imposed on them.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said all efforts are being made to rectify
the situation and ensure a gradual improvement in the power situation.
“There will be a decent improvement in the power situation from this
weekend, thanks to ongoing remedial efforts that will double the current
power supply to 4,000WM. Getting back to the 5,074MW all-time high that
was reached earlier will take a few more weeks,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said at a time the routine maintenance by the Nigeria Gas
Company has affected the supply of gas to power stations, forcing down
power supply from an all-time high of 5,074 MW to about 4,000MW, a
combination of unsavoury incidents further crashed the power supply to
about half that figure.
“The vandalization of the Forcados export pipelines forced oil companies
to shut down, making it impossible for them to produce gas. Then, workers
at the Ikeja Discos, who were protesting the disengagement of some of
their colleagues after they failed the company’s competency test,
apparently colluded with the National Transmission Station in Osogbo to
shut down transmission.
“Finally, the unfortunate strike by the unions at the NNPC, over the
restructuring of the Corporation, shut down the Itarogun Power Station,
the biggest in the country. Due to these factors, only 13 out of the 24
power stations in the country are currently functioning. It is this same
kind of unsavoury situation that has affected fuel supply and subjected
Nigerians to untold hardship,” he said.
The Minister strongly condemned the situation in which some Nigerians,
under the guise of the various unions in the oil and gas sector or sheer
vandalization, will continuously sabotage the country’s power
infrastructure.
“The bitter truth is that for as along as these groups of Nigerians
continue to sabotage the power infrastructure, Nigerians cannot enjoy a
decent level of power supply. We therefore admonish all Nigerians who may
be agitating for their rights in whatever form to refrain from any action
that will further hurt the same people they claim to be protecting,” he
said.