THE outages witnessed by electricity consumers in Abuja is due to the evaluation and inspection of the Shiroro Electricity Dam, preparatory to possible maintenance work, the Federal Government said Saturday.
Going by assurances of the Presidency, power supply to the nation's capital should be restored today.
The Shiroro Hydroelectricity Dam in Niger State, the Presidential Task Force on Power, said, was shut down as a compulsory measure to ensure a safe working environment for technicians and evaluators.
To facilitate the process, the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) at the weekend met with Abuja regional operators, the Abuja Disco CEO, Ganiyu Umar, and CEO of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Olusola Akinniranye, to discuss the development and how to prevent a fire brigade approach in the future.
Chairman of the Task Force, Beks Dagogo-Jack, who presided at the meeting, stressed the need to hasten the process to restore steady power supply the Federal Capital Territory.
He regretted that Abuja residents have been experiencing electricity load sharing as a result of the plant's shut down for a long postponed maintenance evaluation. He confirmed that the development lead to the loss of 130 megawatts from February 12, 2013, causing power supply in the city to be affected predominantly during the hours of 8am and 5pm.
"We need to ensure that this mandatory shutdown for facilities evaluation is conducted as diligently and quickly as possible, so residents are not subjected to undue inconvenience," he said.
The PTFP chief used the meeting to secure the commitment of the project executors to ensure that evaluation would not exceed the weekend.
"We need to ensure that by Sunday, February 24, Abuja residents should expect their electricity supply to return to the normal load bandwidth of 300-350 megawatts," he said.
To ensure that such issues don't arise again, he directed that specific mid to long term measures be in place for future sustained supply to the nation's capital, irrespective of routine maintenance or evaluations of power plants.
Beks said: "PTFP is ready to hold people accountable for slips in meeting milestones and project deadlines. We expect the highest level of performance from all operatives, as we continue to deliver on the reform roadmap agenda. There is no room for excuses."
The Guardian