Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has described the federal government’s approval of a N72 billion distribution expansion programme as a clear demonstration of its commitment to improving the distribution segment of the power value chain.
Fashola disclosed this while addressing industry stakeholders at the December 2018 Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja. According to him, the approval was necessitated by constraints being experienced at the distribution end stressing that operationally there is 7,000 megawatts of electricity ready for deployment.
The minister also said that the federal government has a 40 per cent shareholding and that the government was concerned about the anomaly. He said as part of efforts towards correcting, the government made the commitment to invest the funds.
However, Fashola noted that the decision to intervene was done after asking the distribution companies (DisCos) where they would want to spend their money within their franchise that could evacuate “some of the power that is available which could yield a maximum collection report.” He also said that it was with that data that government put the amount together that it would inject into the Distribution sector.
The Minister, who quoted the 3rd quarter report of the National Bureau of Statistics said electricity made the highest contribution of 18 per cent to the 1.8 per cent growth in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).He recalled the “Thank You” visit of the Gora community of Nasarawa State to his office early in the week to express their gratitude to the federal government over the provision of Solar Power to their Community saying it was a testimony to the growth in electricity supply and increasing accessibility to the rural communities.
The community delegation, led by its traditional head, Alhaji Jafaru Adamu, thanked the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for initiating the rural electrification programme and the Minister for driving it adding that since the installation of the solar electricity, the community has consistently enjoyed several benefits hitherto not known to them, especially in the areas of social life, education and health.
Also, the minister seized the opportunity of a question to clear the air on an alleged statement made by him in 2014 as to his ability to solve the nation’s power problem in six months. He explained that the statement attributed to him was made in 2015 at Lekki, Lagos in respect of distributing power to the Lekki community within six months from the residual power in an Independent Power Plant earlier commissioned by him to power some government water works and street lighting on the Island.
