The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has announced that the Federal Government will disburse $800 million for the construction of substations and distribution grids under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI).
According to the minister, the investment will be in two parts; $400 million for Lot 2 covering franchise areas of Benin, Port Harcourt, and Enugu Distribution Company (DISCO), and $400 million for Lot 3 covering franchise areas of Abuja, Kaduna, Jos and Kano DISCO coverage.
On Sunday, Bolaji Tunji, Special Adviser on Media and Strategic Communication to the minister, released a statement in which Adelabu was quoted during his visit to the TBEA Southern Power Transmission and Distribution Industry in Beijing, China.
Adelabu, who is on a visit to China for the China-Africa Cooperation Summit, expressed concern over the denial of electricity by DISCOs. Recently, the generation capacity has been reduced by 1,400 megawatts from a peak of 5,170 megawatts due to the malfunctioning of DISCOs. It will control the supply.
The minister, however, assured that despite the setbacks, the government is targeting to increase power generation to 6,000 megawatts by the end of the year.
During the interactive session with TBEA management, the minister reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to partner with world-class organizations like TBEA to achieve President Bola Tinubu’s vision for the energy sector. The statement also highlighted the minister’s concern that over 59 percent of Nigeria’s industry relies on self-generation due to unreliable grids and that aging and fragile transmission and distribution infrastructure has historically hindered industrial growth.
Adelabu noted that power generation has increased from 4,000 megawatts to 5,170 megawatts per year under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He added that the government is targeting 6,000 megawatts by the end of the year and 30 gigawatts by 2030.
Huang Hanjie, President of TBEA Company Limited, expressed the company’s support for Nigeria’s energy sector goals and offered to share his extensive global experience in energy supply.
Hanjie commended the recent improvements in power generation and transmission and confirmed TBEA’s interest in providing expertise to the proposed super grid project.
