Egbin Gives Nigeria 1,320MW, Soon

Acting Chief Executive Officer of Egbin Power Station, Mr Mike Uzoigwe, says the station’s generation will bounce back to full capacity of 1320 megawatts before the end of the year.

Uzoigwe told newsmen yesterday in Lagos that government was working tirelessly to ensure that all units of the power generation plant were working effectively to boost production.

The Egbin boss said the government spent about N12 billion to repair unit 1 to return it to full production, saying the unit would add about 220 megawatts to the national grid.

Uzoigwe, an engineer, said that presently, five of the six units were working to generate about 1080mw to the national grid.

He said that with the government’s zeal to provide steady power supply to the citizenry and the current maintenance culture, Egbin was sure to operate at maximum capacity.

It was gathered that due to the on-going overhaul, the Egbin Power Station has stepped up its generation capacity to 1080mw as against 700mw it frequently generated in the last two years.

Uzoigwe assured Nigerians and the government that as soon as the station got enough funds, the final stage of repair of unit 6 would commence.

According to him, this will bring the station to full capacity of 1320mw before the end of 2011.

“We will stand behind the government in making life easy for Nigerians, by making sure that our plant is running reliably and more efficiently.

“Egbin Electricity Power Plc staff are a rare breed, very dedicated, hard working, knowledgeable and forthright people.

“Without their hard work and support, nobody achieves anything here,’’ he said.

Uzoigwe, however, assured the Minister of Power of his total support to ensure effective power supply to all parts of the country.

He acknowledged the massive improvement at the power station and said that residents of Ijede and Egbin communities, who reside around the plant, had also commended the government for the works after years of neglect.

“We are convinced by government that the overhauling of Egbin Power Station and improving power generation in Nigeria will continue,” the chief executive said.

It would be recalled that the construction of Egbin Power Station started in 1980, and by the end of 1984, all common services plants and equipment had been completed.

The first unit (Unit 3) was inaugurated in May 1985, while the last unit was inaugurated in November 1987, with each of the six units having a capacity of 220 megawatts.