Minister of State for Power, Hajiya Zainab Kuchi, told reporters in Abuja that the winners of the successor firms unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigerian (PHCN) will take charge of the companies by July.
According to the Minister, the new date, which is in line with the Bureau of Public Enterprises’ (BPE’s) timeline for the privatisation of PHCN, was chosen to allow for the resolution of outstanding issues between PHCN staff and the Federal Government.
She said: “We are finalising on labour. The labour is what is standing between us and handing over. And all the issues that were there have been addressed. We are on payment to a certain level and once the payments issues are finalised, which we hope will be June ending, we will definitely be handing over to the successor companies by the end of July.
“That is the conjecture that we have here and that is the stand of BPE. BPE has a timeline, but this was stretched forward because of the labour issues that we needed to address here.
“But we have taken over all the problems. We have addressed all the issues. The funding is there for the payment of labour, all they are doing is data computation and as we are done with this, the handing over processes will take place.”
Commenting on when Nigerians will begin to enjoy the Federal Government’s projection of providing 10,000mega watts in the country, the minister said though the ministry was generating 10, 000mw, it would supply in 10,000mw next year.
“By our projection and by the data available by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, we will reach 10,000mw by December next year, if we succeed. We are depending on the Transmission Company of Nigeria because right now, we are generating up to 10,000mw, but the wheeling power is what we are trying to increase its capacity,” said Kuchi.
The minister explained that the gap between generation and supply is because of the “rot” that the transmission section suffered.
She said the Niger Delta Power Holding Company has been trying to revive the infrastructure, which has been down.
“We have about 10 NIPP projects that are going to be commissioned.
“With the additional power supply, which the Federal Government is expecting from the Africa Development Bank and the Europe bond that the government has just finalised, wheeling in 10,000mw be attainable next year,” the Minister revealed.
She added that the power sector is maintaining a deliverable generation capacity of 4,500mw across the country.