By Etuka Sunday
The federal government yesterday pledged considerable rise in the nation’s electricity generation to 9,000 megawatts (MW) by December this year.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Boladei Igali, made the pledge, hinging the government’s optimism to the quantum of power about to be generated from the 10 power stations under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).
Igali, who spoke during a presentation to the peer review team of the body of permanent secretaries in the Civil Service of the Federation said: “Without electricity, our national thrust of being one of the largest economies in 2020 will not be possible”.
Breaking the cheering news, he told the audience that: “By the year ending, peak generation should be up to 9,000 megawatts as the NIPPs will add 4,700 mw to the already available 4,500mw.”
Reports from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo, as at Saturday, showed that peak generation in the national grid stood at 4,021mw.
The highest peak generation ever recorded in Nigeria was 4,517mw in December 2012.
The Peer Review Mechanism (PRM), according to Amb. Igali, is an initiative of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) to enhance the performance of permanent secretaries in the service.
Igali also disclosed that a restructuring in the Ministry of Power will include new departments. He said the Energy Resources Department (ERD) will deal with power generation from both public and private plants, with the Transmission and Distribution Department handling the related issues alone.
“In rural electrification, we have the Renewable Energy Department especially, which will fast track federal government’s efforts to light up rural areas,” he said.
The Investment, Reforms and Development is another department that is being proposed.
Igali said the ministry is working on developing a super grid transmission which would advance evacuation capacity, just as the available transmission network is being expanded by the government.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, who led the team to the power ministry, commended it for the cordial relationship among its staff.
Goni encouraged the permanent secretaries to ensure that they publicise results of successful policies, especially those that have been approved by the federal government.
