The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has summoned the chief executives of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over worsening power supply in their regions.
Adelabu, in a statement made available by his media aide, Bolaji Tunji, also summoned the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Sule Ahmed Abdulazeez, over the deteriorating power situation.
There has been an abysmal power supply situation nationwide since the beginning of this year.
Several parts of Abuja, the nation’s capital have been experiencing blackouts as the TCN on Wednesday, February 28, confirmed the vandalisation of its transmission towers by vandals.
LEADERSHIP recalls that the transmission company announced that Tower 70 along its 330KV Gwagwalada-Katampe Transmission line was ‘seriously vandalised.
The incident, the company said, occurred on the 26th of February at about 11.32 pm.
The situation was similar in several parts of the country, with many Nigerians protesting against the epileptic and complete outage of power supply.
Expressing concern over the situation, Adelabu, via a letter signed by the Director of Distribution Services at the Federal Ministry of Power, B.U Mustapha, mandated the chief executives of the DisCos and TCN to be present at a meeting set for next week.
Adelabu, according to the statement, said the management of other non-performing discos would also be queried over their below performance as reports continue to filter in on the situation in their regions.
“These two discos have been summoned due to the worsening power supply situation in their regions despite improved supply from TCN,” the power minister stated.
Adelabu said that despite the gas shortage, the ministry had been urging power-generating companies to enhance their performance, and generation had been ramped up to over 4,000 megawatts in recent days.
“So, we expect power supply to have improved across the country, unlike what we are experiencing in some regions, currently. Findings revealed that some distribution companies were deliberately not taking up power supply from TCN while some power lines were also damaged by vandals in Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt and Ibadan regions,” Adelabu said.
Going forward, the minister said the focus would be on all the DisCos to compel them to perform while “willful non-performance by any DisCo could suffice as a reason for severe punishment or outright license revocation,” the statement stated.
The minister has also directed TCN to commence repair works on the damaged transmission towers and power lines immediately to improve supply in the affected regions.
Recall that the minister had embarked on supervisory visits to some of the power generating plants in the last few months.
He was in Kainji hydro power plant which will soon embark on an expansion plan to boost the existing 560MW operational capacity.
The power minister also visited Benue and Taraba States to assess the infrastructure being constructed to evacuate an additional 30 megawatts from the Kashimbilla hydo power station to the national grid with only 10MW presently being evacuated from the hydro power plant.
The minister was also in Olorunshogo and Omotosho thermal plants in Ogun and Ondo States, Ihvobor and Azura power plants in Edo state, respectively.
During the visits, the minister assured these power plants that plans are underway by the Federal Government to defray part of the outstanding debts being owed the power generation companies and the gas supply companies.
With this, succour is close to electricity consumers nationwide with expectation that this action will assist improved generation levels across the country.
He also appealed to electricity consumers to exercise a little patience while the situation is being turned around.
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