Some States Have Almost 24 Hours Power Supply, Says Fashola

saharareporters

Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria's Minister of Power, Works and Housing, says there are states in Nigeria that have constant supply of electricity.

Speaking on Wednesday on Sunrise Daily, a programme on Channels Television, he said country's transmission capacity has increased.

According to Fashola, the transmission capacity has increased to about 8,100 watts as at December 2018.

“Sitting down here I can tell you some states that have almost 24 hours – Kebbi, Yobe. Some have five, some have 10 and there are still outages,” Fashola said.

He also said the constant power supply in some states is due to the increase in the transmission capacity, noting that the transmission capacity has grown to about 8,100 watts as of December 2018.

He continued: “The transmission capacity has grown again. The last simulation that we did in December 2018 was 8,100. The generation capacities are also increasing, but it’s a value chain where the distribution optic is not matching up with the available power, and of course, from time to time there are snags in the value chain, maybe a 33KVA line goes, maybe gas issues, maintenance even in some places require shutdown because we still don’t have enough power.

“But I can say very very confidently that we’ve moved forward; the reason we’re asking for a renewed mandate, which we have now got is to move even further. We set out short term goals in my ministry; first get incremental power. We have delivered on implemental power and we will continue to increase.

“We are hopeful to see that at this next level obligation, what we want to see now is more of incremental power and stable power in some places. Towards the end of the next term, we should experience more stable power. And that is as much as I can honestly and sincerely commit. Because it’s a big country, there will still be many areas that we will not have reached, because of viability, finance, because as businessmen too, the whole country hasn’t been connected by telecoms, 17 years after. There are still places where your network won’t work, and that is why people carry three, four phones. So, let’s just understand this. Not every part of the country also has banking services. So, let’s just understand where we are.”