Joseph Tegbe, Minister of Power, says the federal government will begin replacing infrastructure across the national grid within the next one to two months.
Tegbe spoke on Monday during a TVC television programme.
“So in the next one or two months, we will commence
infrastructure replacement across our grid…. President Tinubu is extremely
supportive of what we are doing,” he said.
The minister identified transmission as the biggest
constraint in the power sector, noting that some of the country’s transmission
lines have been in operation for as long as 50 years.
Tegbe said the ministry is conducting a technical audit of
the power sector to identify the infrastructure requiring repairs or
replacement and ensure that funds are allocated to the right areas.
“I’m a systems person. So do a technical audit of the entire
power sector. And today, we’ve gone about one month into the technical audit.
We’ve seen some of the results,” he said.
The minister said the audit also identified faults at
several facilities.
“There are places where it is towers that have issues. There
are places where it’s insulators. There are places where it’s a conductor
relay,” he said.
“What you don’t want to do is start spending money on
insulators when you are meant to fix a conductor relay. Now we’re getting a
clear picture.”
‘CONSTRAINTS IN GAS SUPPLY CHAIN LIMITING POWER SUPPLY’
Furthermore, Tegbe said Nigeria has sufficient gas to
generate electricity, but constraints in the gas supply chain, including debts
owed to electricity generation companies (GenCos), are limiting supply.
On November 5, the Nigerian Independent System Operator
(NISO) attributed the lower power generation partly to limited gas availability
and reduced water inflows into hydroelectric stations.
However, on November 7, the Nigerian National Petroleum
Company (NNPC) Limited said its gas transportation network has no operational
constraints responsible for the recent decline in electricity generation.
Commenting on the conflicting positions, the minister said his priority is to give Nigerians access to electricity, asking both parties to forget the argument on whether gas is available or not and whether the grid is collapsing.
The minister said his role is to ensure all agencies work
together.
“We have gas as a nation. However, sometimes, that liquidity
issue becomes a constraint,” Tegbe said.
The minister dismissed concerns about gas availability,
insisting that Nigeria has sufficient reserves to support power generation but
faces constraints within the supply chain.
“There’s availability of gas for us as a nation. It’s a
comparative advantage. However, within the gas supply chain, there are
constraints,” he said.
The minister said one of the constraints is the inability of
generating companies to purchase gas due to outstanding debts owed to them.
He put the debt at N3.3 trillion, adding that the federal
government, with the support of President Bola Tinubu, had begun settling the
outstanding obligations.
“In the last few months, we’ve paid down N1.23 trillion. We
only have N2 trillion left. That N2 trillion, hopefully next year,” the
minister said.
Tegbe also identified the age of some power plants as
another challenge affecting electricity generation, noting that the government
is replacing some of the ageing facilities with newer ones.
He said addressing the constraints across the gas supply
chain and improving generation infrastructure would help strengthen power
supply.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com