… gives status update on his reform agenda
Olusola Bello
Hope rises for the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) being undertaken by Siemens Energy as the Federal Government assured Nigerians on Wednesday that selected EPC Contractors will soon be contracted officially so that work on the project implementation can commence.
The project is expected to make available 25,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2025 from the current 4,000mw.
The non-signing of the contract by the Federal Government has limited the scope of work Siemens Energy Has been doing.
According to the minister Of Power, Abubakar D. Aliyu, who presented a status report of his reform agenda in the power sector in the last 50 days, he said, the first phase of the project started in earnest this year, with the ongoing pre-engineering phase.
“The selected EPC Contractors will soon be contracted officially so work on the project implementation can commence,” he said.
“Systematic implementation of the Presidential Power
Initiative (PPI) of this administration. Siemens Nigeria and the Federal Government in 2020 entered into a Power
Infrastructure revamp agreement. It is a government-to-
Government agreement. The Nigerian Electrification Roadmap (NER) is a partnership that will expand Nigeria’s electricity capacity from the current average output 4,500MWh/h to 25,000MW. We are confident that the NER will succeed because of the pedigree of Siemens and their footprint in the Global Power Industry.
“The first phase of the PPI is the upgrading and expansion of the vital infrastructure of the TCN and Discos with the end goal of achieving 7,000MW. This first phase started in earnest this year, with the ongoing pre-engineering phase. The selected EPC Contractors will soon be contracted officially so work on the project implementation can commence.”
The minister stated that in the last 50 days, a lot has transpired. This he said, reinforces his inaugural assertion and conviction that you do not need to be a magician to Perform.
“I do believe that a determined and motivated team will always find a way to mobilize resources and deliver on its assignment. We have put in place goal delivery machinery which is operational.
With this in place, many of our lingering challenges in the Power Sector are now being addressed in a Methodical, systematic, and Proactive manner.”
He said his team is working tirelessly as it explores opportunities that will, in the short term, deliver the much-desired quick wins whilst still focusing on the long-term objectives of increasing the available Power, improving the quality of services, attracting the much-needed investment, promoting efficiency, competition, and growth and lastly ensuring transparency and accountability in the value chain of the Power Sector.
The Ministry he said is intensifying performance monitoring of the licensees and the licensing regime, especially their revised Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) to have a better understanding of why some critical stakeholders are performing below expectation.
“We shall be taking a careful and detailed look at issues of policy, capacity and the technical requirement, amongst other things.”
“One very critical concern that we must address in this performance monitoring process is to find out if the terms for granting of licenses were onerous.”
He stated that his ministry is aware that the Nigerian Power sector is confronted by many challenges which have not enabled the sector to grow as desired.
These challenges he noted are reflected in the two over-arching problems of the Sector which are quality of service and sector illiquidity.
“Too many people are still not satisfied with the quality of service in terms of hours of supply, voltage, Disputed/estimated bills, or have no access to electricity.
Secondly, the payments the DisCos are able to collect from consumers do not cover the full investment and costs of the GenCos who produce and sell the power, and Transmission Company of Nigeria which wheels the power to the DisCos.
He said Federal Government financial support is required to cover the shortfall. The resulting huge burden on Government he explained is unsustainable.
He stated that his immediate focus is how to achieve the following through effective policy and regulation and cooperative engagement with private and public sector operators:
1. Create liquidity in the electricity market;
2. Improve services in terms of hours of supply, billing transparency and accuracy, and wider access to electricity;
3. Bring consumer, operator and investor confidence back to the sector to attract foreign and local investment into the sector;
4. Create jobs;
5. Promote competition and bring in more participants in the Nigerian Electricity Market (NEM).
The key policies and initiatives of the Ministry to achieve these aims are: –
1. Accelerate progress and completion of key projects of the Ministry and its partners, especially:
a. Kashimbilla 40MW power station has already started generating power into the National Grid.
b. Gurara phase 2 being developed in partnership with Ministry of Water Resources will soon be ready to deliver 30MW to the grid.
c. Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project is progressing towards completion next year to deliver another 700MW of renewable power.
d. Katsina Wind farm is with a full capacity of 10MW is already generating part of its full capacity on the grid.
e. Dadin Kowa 40MW power station started generating power into the National Grid under a concession with the private investor. The remaining regulatory and power purchase
agreement issues are being resolved.
f. Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project was contracted in2017. Discussions are being intensified so that all encumbrances preventing full take off of the project are resolved soon.
g. TCN’s Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Program is funded by various multilateral financial institutions to ensure adequacy and stability of the National Grid.