(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Chinedu-Nebo-Minister-of-Power-300x200.jpg) The Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo has assured Nigerians that the night mare experienced last week is now over, as power generation has steadily increased to over 3,500 as at 11th April, 2013.
Speaking at a Press Conference organized by the Ministry of Power on power supply drop, Professor Nebo expressed optimism that by 12th April, power supply would increase to over 4,000MW; while by weekend the situation would have returned to the previous peak.
While giving account of events leading to the unfortunate outage, the Minister said, as a Government, "We are always, open to answer questions and enquiries in the most honest way, we must give correct information so that our people do not need to panic unnecessarily. A few days ago, precisely on 5th April, Chevron shut down its lines for schedule maintenance; this necessitated our maintenance pangs especially in our generation stations to do same. So we lost over 1,000MW".
The Minister urged newsmen to give accurate information to the public assuring that what has happened is nothing serious. "From time to time, we must be experiencing shut down; sometimes it is technically expedient to shut-down, so as to restart machines. We must need to understand that, because of the ageing nature of our equipment, we cannot but experience shut downs. Another problem is labour." But, the Minister was quick to assure Nigerians that all necessary obligations would be resolved soon. He reiterated that the Government is committed to ensuring a seamless process of privatization.
The Minister further expressed the hope of a perfect synergy between the new management and the old that the existing and future transmission network is made better and functional, because "We cannot hand over sick companies to the private sector. We need to do routine maintenance and repairs; we must hand over functional companies to deliver power to Nigerians."
Answering questions from newsmen at the event, the Minister of State for Power, Hajiya Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi assured that Government would not allow any gap or lacuna in the privatization process, hence the much talked about zero budget for DISCOs does not exist. "What was not given to them in this year's budget is Capital because it was envisaged that by now these Companies would have been transferred to the new owners".
On the few grey areas with severance package for Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Staff, she said Government has made adequate provisions to pay all outstanding money. He urged Nigerians and stakeholders to support Government policy throughout this transition period.
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria