President Goodluck Jonathan said on Saturday that the his administration<\/p>\n
would not rest on its oars until it stabilised power supply in the
\ncountry.
\nHe made the pledge at the inauguration of the rehabilitated Unit 6 and
\nunit 4 of the Egbin thermal plant in Lagos to raise the output of the
\nplant by 220 megawatts<\/p>\n
\u201cFor government, there is no going back until we surely stabilise power in
\nthe country,\u2019\u2019 the president said.<\/p>\n
He said the rehabilitation of the plant had returned Egbin to its full
\ncapacity of 1,320 megawatts.<\/p>\n
According to him the landmark achievement was happening for the first time
\nsince the inception of the plant.<\/p>\n
He said the power output would be beneficial to the Lagos industrial
\nlayout and its environs while its sustenance would lead to creation of
\nmore jobs.<\/p>\n
The president added that the power road map of his administration had set
\nout the key foundation needed to remove the obstacles needed in the power
\nsector investment.<\/p>\n
He said that stemming from the privatisation of the power sector more
\ndividends had accrued to the nation.<\/p>\n
He noted that the feat achieved by the administration would extend the
\nlife span of the Egbin plant by another 20 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Egbin power plant and the result shown today demonstrate without
\ndoubt that we have made a strong foundation upon which we are building a
\nsound and sustainable electricity industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me restate that we are committed to irreversibly reposition the
\nNigerian power sector as a pivot for the attainment of our nation\u2019s
\ndevelopment targets.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The president further said that his administration was diversifying the
\nenergy source by exploring all the options available to remain the
\nstrongest economy in the continent and beyond.<\/p>\n
He said that from now and in the future the FG would continue to make the
\npower sector growth become self-sustaining and viable by creating a
\nconducive environment through access to low interest finance and sound
\npolicy formulation.<\/p>\n
He commended the Board and Management of Egbin and the regulatory bodies
\nfor a job well done.<\/p>\n
He further urged the host community to partner the power station to
\nconserve the environment and protect the facility.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, noted that since privatisation
\nthe power sector had received a new boost to move the nation to the next
\nlevel.<\/p>\n
He said that for 16 years before the advent of the Jonathan
\nadministration, no engineer was hired or employed by the operators in the
\nindustry but Egbin had hired more than 107 engineers in training.<\/p>\n
He said that the revamped units had been moribund for more than nine years
\nwhile the new company owner invested over N50 billion to revive the plant.<\/p>\n
He said that a lot of work was done in the other power generation
\ncompanies to boost their capacity.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, he said, that Kainji dam was raised from 80 mw to additional
\n150mw with another 330 mw to be injected soon.<\/p>\n
He said that Shiroro dam\u2019s 450mw plant had added another 150 megawatts.
\nHe said Ugheli had increased to 600mw from less than 200mw before
\nprivatisation.<\/p>\n
He also said a minimum of 5,000 megawatts would be added to the grid when
\nthe coal turbines across the country were completed.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the board of directors of the plant, Mr Kola Adesina, said
\nthe management recognised the importance of the plant to improve power
\nwhen it commenced the revamping exercise.<\/p>\n
He praised the Jonathan administration for the CBN power sector
\nintervention fund which had assisted industry operators.<\/p>\n
He said over one million homes in Lagos would enjoy additional six hours
\nof power per day, with more than 6,000 direct jobs and 10,000 indirect
\nemployment opened.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Goodluck Jonathan said on Saturday that the his administration would not rest on its oars until it stabilised power supply in the country. He made the pledge at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n