In a bid to further improve on the transmission of power across the nation, the Federal Government is currently working on 90 transmission projects which are on-going, even with the recent completion of Apo, Mayo Belwa, Damaturu, Maiduguri, Odogunyan and Ejigbo transmission lines.

The Minister of works, power and housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who disclosed this during a press conference to mark his third year in office in Abuja on Monday, added that the Buhari Government has fulfilled its promise of power supply through generation of additional electricity to Nigerians since 2015.

Speaking further on the third year progress report, he said Federal Government, at inception of the current administration, promised to improve electricity supply via incremental, stable and ultimately uninterrupted power supply.

According to him, “With regard to our mandate on power supply, I promised that we will improve on the gas supply, increase the transmission capacity, pay Ministry Departments and Agency (MDA) debts and generally improve your experience with power supply.

“First by getting incremental power, then proceed to stable power and hopefully reach uninterrupted power.

“I am happy to report that we have walked our talk, and we have delivered visible results and recorded qualitative progress.”

He said government had improved on what it met in 2015 by increasing generation from 4000MW to 7000MW, transmission from 5000MW to 7000MW and distribution from 2,690MW to 5,222MW.

According to the minister, efforts were still on to deliver additional power to Nigerians.

“Our work is clearly not finished, and we are still in the process of delivering additional generation from Kaduna power plant, 215MW, Afam IV plant, 240MW, Kashimbilla 40MW, Gurara 30MW, Dadinkowa 29MW.”

He said government was also in final stage of providing power supply to nine universities and 15 markets.

Fashola said two big hydro power plants of 700MW in Zungeru and 3,050MW in Mambilla were also work-in-progress.

Speaking on construction of distribution infrastructure, Fashola said over 100 injection sub-stations was been constructed, adding that a distribution expansion programme to be funded by the Federal Government had reached advanced stage of procurement.

He noted that there were still Nigerians who were yet to be supplied electricity, adding that government and all the value chain operators were making efforts to deliver power to Nigerians.

In his words, “Although there are still people we have not reached, there are still disruptions from time to time. We still need people who need meters and we are working to reach them.

“But it is indisputable that we have delivered on incremental power.

“The evidence of our progress is not only captured in the last quarter of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report for Q2 of 2018 which shows a growth of 7.5 per cent in the electricity sector.

“Previous quarterly reports from 2017 have consistently recorded growth, a clear departure from 2014, 2015 and proof of change.”

Continuing, Fashola said the report of the ministry’s survey and feedback mechanism confirmed that many Nigerians now have public power for longer hours compared to 2015.

“And you now run generators for shorter periods compared to 2015 and you now spend less money on diesel to power your generators.

“As some citizens recently reported, they no longer have to iron all their clothes one week in advance as they previously used to do.

“Because, the supply is proving reliable and predictable, even if not yet fully stable and uninterrupted.

“This is progress that we must move forward by consolidating on our mandate of change, we cannot go back.

“As our policies on mini grids, Meter Asset Provider (MAP) Eligible Customer and liquidity sustenance and improved governance deepens, your experience with power supply can only get better,” he added.

•Photo by Mayowa Okekale shows, L-R; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mr Louis Edozien; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola; and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Housing, Alhaji Mohammed Bukar, during the news conference on the 3rd Year Progress report of the Ministry in Abuja on Monday.

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