Directs ministries to execute gas masterplan
THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) promised yesterday that under the lifespan of President Goodluck Jonathan's administration, power generation and distribution would stabilise at 4,000 megawatts (mw).
The cabinet, which met yesterday in Abuja to receive the report on the power sector from the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee (PPAC), said most of the National Independent Power Projects (NIPPs) to raise the national output to 4,000mw were at 80 per cent completion stage.
But the government is not relying solely on the NIPPs to meet the national power demand, as it is exploring the potential of dams scattered in several parts of the country to boost electricity supply. The government also directed the completion of ongoing gas projects to further raise generation.
The panel is headed by former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Ibrahim Bunu.
FEC directed both the Ministries of Power and Petroleum Resources to implement the gas master plan to ensure the efficiency of the gas projects.
The Council also approved the payment of N65.8 billion ($43.3 million) as counterpart funds to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development.
At the end of the FEC meeting, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said there were many uncompleted dams, which could generate a lot of hydro-electricity for the country.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, said ahead of the panel's report, his team had planned to ensure that the hydro-electric component of the multipurpose dams, was implemented in good time to generate more electricity.
Maku said the Council, presided by President Jonathan with the other members in attendance, "took a lot of time to receive the report of the committee set up by the President on the power sector."
The President was said to have insisted that because of the significance of the committee's job, there was need for FEC to examine it sector by sector, so that the government would derive maximum benefit from the recommendations.
Maku said: "The chairman and members of the committee in today's (yesterday) meeting therefore focused on the power sector projects that are going on in some parts of the federation. They gave the Council a rundown of their tour of the projects, the level of progress and issues in the field."
The report focused on what the government must do to ensure that the power projects were delivered in good time so that the major sector in which this nation is looking upon the government will give results in the lifetime of this administration, he said
The presidential panel toured all the NIPPs, the gas power projects, and recommended that the lapses in gas supply be addressed.
"Today (yesterday) the Ministries of Power and Petroleum Resources informed the Council that the gas master plan is already on ground and everything is being done to ensure that it is delivered, so that by the time the power projects are completed, there will be gas to run them.
"The NIPP which will give this country over 4,000mw of electricity are at about 80 per cent completion in the field. Government was happy about the progress being made in the field but we said we must not rest on our oars. One key recommendation, which the committee made, is that all over the country, there are uncompleted dams, which could generate a lot of hydro-electricity for the country. It particularly noted the Dadinkowa Dam in Gombe State, which has the capacity to deliver 34mw of electricity and there are several other dams stretching from Gombe, Osun, Kano and Katsina states that are also simply waiting for turbines to be installed to generate electricity.
"Also, the minister of power informed Council, that ahead of this report, they have planned to ensure that the hydro-electric component of this multipurpose dams are implemented in good time to generate additional power particularly in other parts of the country to stabilise electricity supply.
"So, if this is done in addition to the gas power projects on ground, it is expected that power will be delivered and it is expected that there will be some stability in power supply in the life span of this administration."
The minister explained that by next week, the presidential panel would again address the Council on projects in the Ministry of Works "like we did in the area of power. The President set up this committee because rather than allowing teams go back to the field until government goes and hands off uncompleted projects, it is wiser that we receive all the criticisms that we can receive now on our projects and wherever things are not working, it will give us the opportunity to quickly act on them so that at least the past history of when projects are started and takes decades to be delivered will be mitigated."
The Federal Ministry of Works also yesterday reeled out its achievements in the road sector in the past 100 days, saying that it had started palliative work on some of the major roads, which had caused untold hardship to commuters in the country. It said full rehabilitation and construction work would begin on the roads as soon as the rains were over.
Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, listed the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Lagos-Ibadan Road, Sagamu-Ajebandele-Ofosu-Benin Highway, Kano-Maiduguri Expressway, and the Onitsha-Enugu Road (between the Niger Bridge and Upper Iweka) as some of the roads where emergency work had begun.
At a briefing to mark the government's 100 days in office, Onolememen said FEC had in the past one month approved the award of seven road projects across the six geo-political zones.
He listed the affected highways as the Jalingo-Kaduna-Lau Road in Taraba State, Ijebu-Igbo-Olomi (Oyo State border) road, and the repair of Ondo-Ore Road in Ondo State.
Others are the Odo-Oba-Takie-Gambari-Otte along Ibadan-Oyo Ogbomosho-Ilorin Road, the rehabilitation of a spot from Onitsha-Owerri Road to Okija in Anambra and Imo states, reconstruction of Gbongan-Low Road in Oyo State and the construction of 15km interstate road (Aiyegunle-Akoko) in Edo and Ondo states.
He said government is exploring new funding models for road projects such as, private financing initiatives, contractor financing, commercial bank bond financing, multilateral and bilateral grants and international financing institutions like the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB).
Maku also stated the importance of the memo by the Minister of Finance seeking approval to enable Nigeria pay its own counterpart funding of its contribution to the OPEC Fund for International Development. He said the fund, which was set up in 1976 in Vienna helps members to put aside money to assist countries that do not produce oil.
In 1976, Nigeria made a promise to contribute $177.7 million to the fund. And over this period, the country has been doing that. But earlier this year there was a meeting of the Fund in Vienna where all members were asked to complete their contribution.
"Nigeria has a balance of $43.3 million to pay to this fund. So, the Minister of Finance brought a memo, which Council approved to enable Nigeria pay this contribution to OPEC. The money will be paid between 2013 and 2020. This fund is very important because it has helped a number of developing countries particularly in the South to cope with some of the pressures they go through, " Maku said.
And for the second time in a month, the Ondo State government has asked the Federal Government to maintain its roads in the state, describing the loss of human lives on the roads as evidence of Abuja's insensitivity to the issue.
A similar action from the state over the deplorable Ore portion of the Sagamu-Benin Expressway had incurred the ire of the Federal Ministry of Works, which accused the state of playing politics with issues not under its purview.
Last week, about 40 lives were lost in an automobile accident along the Akure-Owo Road prompting the state government to begin immediate widening of the road shoulders, an action that the Commissioner of Works, Gboye Adegbemiro, said should have been carried out by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
Adegbenro, who was on an inspection tour of the state rehabilitation efforts yesterday, said unless concrete actions were taken by the Federal Government to fix its bad roads, the heavy traffic build up on the roads, especially during the coming Yuletide, might result into more road disasters.
The Guardian