The integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari has led to the seeming stability in power generation and has also ensured an increase in its supply, the All Progressives Congress has said.
It also stated that without adequate improvement in power supply, the President may not be able to fulfil most of his campaign promises.
Before the new government came on board, power generation in Nigeria was between 3,000MW and 3,500MW. But in the past two months, electricity generation has continued to stay above 4,500MW.
The spokesperson for the APC, Mr. Lai Mohammed, stated that the stability in power generation was attributable to the integrity that was brought into governance by Buhari.
Speaking at 2015 Electricity Market Summit in Abuja on Thursday, Mohammed, who represented his party at the event, stated that the cases of pipelines vandalism had decreased significantly since the new administration took over from the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said, “I say it anywhere I go that even though we have not added one single megawatt to power, there has been improvement. My colleagues in the PDP will say no; that’s not true. But I maintain that this improvement is as a result of the kind of integrity that President Buhari has brought to leadership.
“Also, there has been a reduction in the cases of gas pipelines vandalism. Furthermore, the TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria), which used to have about 22 systemic power failures often times, now records about six or seven of such cases. So, what we have today is that we have a leadership that is inspiring Nigerians and making them to believe again in their country. We have a leadership that is promising to reward merit.”
Mohammed observed that the country’s power generation was by far too low, when compared to its population. He said it was time to think outside the box with respect to increasing electricity generation and supply.
He said, “Meanwhile, I will like to state here that a nation with a population of over 170 million people cannot make do with a power generation of under 10,000MW. Even if we achieve 10,000MW, it will not help us in our drive for industrialisation. I have been informed that even if all our power generating plants generate (power) today, we don’t have enough capacity to transmit all that is being generated.
“We need to start thinking out of the box. We can’t afford to think conventionally, because in year 2030, our population will be about the third largest in the world and we cannot just rely on 6,000 to 10,000 megawatts. In the transition committee of President Buhari, we invited many professionals to come and address us on the power sector. The kind of time they gave us to build 20,000MW plant should be between five to seven years. But I don’t think this country can afford that luxury.”
He further noted that the APC promised to create millions of jobs annually, but explained that this would not be possible unless there was improvement in power supply.
The APC spokesperson said, “We must look for radical solutions to this problem, because there is no way a population of 170 million can share 6,000MW and you expect us to be among the top 20 economies in the world. There is very little we can achieve out of our pledges, if the power sector remains the way it is today. We did promise that we are going to create three million jobs a year. This promise is possible and do-able, but it will be much easier for us if the power sector also improves.”
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