…can it be said to be a political statement?
The Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu has been on the issue of the country hitting 6000 megawatts by December 2024. But what is not clear is whether the Minister is talking about the availability or actualization of 6000 megawatts.
If the minister is talking of the actualization of 6000 megawatts, the question one would ask, is, will the national grid network be strong enough to transmit that volume of power without the country, experiencing any system collapse in December? Bearing in mind that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has been saying its system can transmit 7,000 megawatts, this, has however, never been put to test for reasons best known to them.
On the availability of generation capacity in the country, the generating companies have acquired the capacity to generate 8000 megawatts since 2020. However, the fragility of the grid system has inhibited the transmission of more than 4000mw, so therefore,6000mw does not require any serious plan, it is just to get in touch with the generation companies with appropriate commercial framework, and the country would be on 6000mw straight away.
With this development, there would still be a balance of stranded 2000mw ready for pick.
Again, how will the minister address the current issue whereby 4000mw is being generated and the distribution companies are only taking just about half of this capacity, and yet he insists on reaching 6000mw in December?
The Minister does not need to wait till December before getting 600mw, except he is telling Nigerians, that the government is working on strengthening the national grid, to enable it to have the capacity to take 6000mw by December 2024. This 6000mw has already existed since 2020 and one does not know why reaching that milestone in December 2024 should be any issue or subject of serious discussion.
Another question that the minister must answer is the issue of a financial plan for the 6000 megawatts.
Can the minister show Nigerians the financial plan for the 6000mw, because the generation companies were owed about N2 trillion as of December 2023, this amount has jumped to N4 trillion following the recent review. How would the discos that are saddled with this financial burden pay this debt, so that the generation companies can also pay their debts to the gas suppliers?
Is the 6000mw target going to be worked out without taking into consideration this humungous amount of debt? Would the financial burden of the discos not be a clog to the wheel of progress concerning the 6000mw target?
The National Centre for Control (NCC) recently, allegedly claimed that the discos only evacuate just 2000mw of the 4000mw that is being generated, would the minister look the other way as regards such a serious problem as this, and ramp his wishes down the throat of the industry without any severe consequences in the system?
If it is true, that the discos took just 2000mw out of 4000mw, how would they take 6000mw? Would it not have been more responsible to resolve possibly, all the interrelated issues among the stakeholders, before the 6000mw in December 2024? So that there would be smooth sails of the target
If the Discos’ utilization for August 2024 was 2000, and the minister is aware of this, it is clear then, that the 6000mw for December could be a political statement and an attempt to raise the hope of Nigerians. I hope this will not be the same situation as the NNPC and the refineries, where Nigeria has recorded several missed target dates
