Minister for Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu (R), flanked by other team members during a working visit to the Calabar Generation Company, at Ikot Nyong in Odukpani LGA of CRS on Tuesday.
By Anietie Akpan
The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that soon they will begin to enjoy steady power supply in the country.
Already, the President Bola Tinubu led Federal Government has stepped up supply from the 4,000 megawatts average it met to 5,105 megawatts, showing an increase of 25 percent, and has put in place legislation like the Electricity Act 2023 to beef up policies and initiatives in the power sector.
The Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, who stated this on Tuesday while on a working tour of Calabar Generation Company, a subsidiary of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) at Ikot Nyong in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State, said the country is witnessing significant improvement as a result of a bullish investments in infrastructure by the federal government.
“We want to meet expectations because other critical sectors of the economy are dependent on power supply and we are doing our best to optimise electricity supply across the country from 4000 megawatt this administration met to 6000 megawatt by the end of the year,” he said.
Sounding modest, Adelabu however said , “I can promise Nigerians again is that we are still scratching the surface; by the time we take the giant steps that are expected of us, you will even see more improvement in power supply under President Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, in his agenda to use power to drive every other critical sectors of the economy”.
He said , “while the Discos, distribution companies are also raising their games, their own infrastructures, that is the 33kVA lines and all the duty transformers , we are still scratching the surface.
“What you are seeing here today is a tip of the iceberg, we are raising our games to fall inline with president Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda to use Power to drive every sector of the economy and we must rise up to the challenge”.
He lauded the performance of the Calabar Power Plant saying, “it is the most functional among the five power plants in the country and everything is being done to keep it in good condition to maintain a steady power supply in the country”, noting that the five turbines of the Calabar Power Plant generate 625 megawatts with each generating 125 megawatts and it is distributed to consumers accordingly.
He said, “We are targeting increased electricity supply and unless we enhance the state of infrastructure like this one ,we would continue to scratch the surface and we want to go beyond the surface by digging deep to make the business of power supply meaningful”.
To further ensure an improved and steady power supply, the Minister said, “We are making policies and initiatives which will galvanise the production of power to determine variable improvement and the power distribution companies, DisCos are doing more to improve power supply”.
The Managing Director , NDPHC, Engineer Chiedu Ugbo, said the plant has two evacuation corridors: one to Calàbar and environs and plans are in place to link the Central and Northern parts of the state while the other is to Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State through to Ugwuanyi in Enugu and other parts of the country.
On his part, the Cross River State Commissioner for Power and Renewable Energy, Prince Eka Williams, urged residents of the state not to hesitate to report any act of vandalism on power infrastructure for an appropriate action.
Williams commended the Federal Government’s efforts on power supply and assured the Minister of the State Government ’s partnership in ensuring that the power sector achieved it set goals under the President Tinubu administration.
