Former Governor of Lagos State and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, is confident that the 10,000 megawatts of electricity in three years promised by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in the month can and will be fulfilled.
He said that he would put an end to the energy crisis facing the country, stating that one of the country’s power plants located at Gbarain in Bayelsa State, which was close to completion, was fired the previous night for pre-commissioning tests.
Speaking at the resolution of a three-year dispute between Enugu Electricity Distribution Company and Aba Power Limited, which had stalled the completion of a 141MW power project for the area, the minister said the resolution and the recovery of four turbines that were down would ensure that the power challenge facing the country could be overcome.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Communications, Hakeem Bello, on Friday quoted the Minister as saying apart from showing that distribution companies could work together, the development would also be of great benefit to traders in the area and boost ‘Made in Nigeria’ goods, which the area is known for.
He said, “We had some outages on our turbines in Jebba but l am happy to inform you that three of the four have been put back into operation and that there is again stability in the system. The power coming into the country is not enough and how do you share what is not enough, it is not possible, so what we need to do is generate more power.
“The 200 megawatts coming from Aba is very important and it is good news for the market.
“The first turbine is on and is being synchronised and that is what we are saying and with incremental power we will achieve the target set by Mr. President in his speech last week.”
Fashola said that it was time for everyone to come together and work hand in hand to improve the power sector.