FG To Build Six Power Plants

The Federal Government has concluded plans to build additional power plants in each of the six geo- political zones of the country that would increase the nation’s power generation from the current 4,000 to 20,000 Mega watts in the next ten years.

The plants, when completed would go a long way in fast tracking the planned energy revolution in Nigeria, as parts of efforts by the present administration to meet the energy demands of the people , as well as break new grounds to improve power supply in the country generally.

Making this known in a keynote address on the occasion of the 9th Annual Congress and Meeting of the Materials Society of Nigeria (MSN), held in Enugu recently, the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Power, and chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, explained that the task force was set up to serve as the engine room to design and drive a reform roadmap of the power sector in Nigeria.

Represented on the occasion by an official of the presidential task force on power, Mr. Chike Madueke, Nnaji further hinted that after a careful study of the complex energy sector, government had scientifically modeled a roadmap with which it had aggressively commenced the drive towards the total re-engineering and repositioning of the power sector to enhance efficiency, adding that the roadmap was launched by President Jonathan in August this year in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

In his paper titled “Challenges of Advanced Renewable Energy Materials in Nigeria”, Professor Emeritus, Alex Animalu, of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), wondered why most of the waste dumps in parts of Enugu State could not be converted to energy, using the available manpower in the tertiary institutions in the state.

He noted that the Energy Commission of Nigeria Act. No. 19, 1989, was established to serve as a national centre for gathering, collating, analysing, publishing and disseminating information relating to national policy in the field of energy development and other functions.

But in his speech, chairman of the occasion and former vice chancellor,University of Nigeria Nsukka, Professor Chinedu Nebo, blamed the lingering energy crises in the country to corruption, which he said had impacted negatively on the national life, stressing that unless proper maintenance of equipment and quality materials were used by the operators, the problem would continue to linger for many years to come.

Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the annual materials congress tagged “NIMACON 2010”, Mr. Abia Bassey, and the state chairman of the Materials Society of Nigeria , MSN, Joe Odo, in their individual brief contributions emphasised the need for synergy among the professionals in the zone, adding that only such collaborative efforts by the engineers and scientists would increase research activities in the area.

Meanwhile, the annual congress was attended by experts in the profession from different parts of the country, including the Director, Scientific Development Institute SEDI, Akwuke Enugu, prof Christian Nwajagu, while Professor Chinedu Nebo, received the society’s fellowship award for his contribution to society.