FG Apologises Over Poor Power Supply

Assistant Inspector-General of Police Zone 10, Alhaji Mamman Sule (right), addressing officers and men of the Sokoto State Police Command last Thursday. With him is Sokoto State Commissioner of Police, Shuaibu Gambo.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said yesterday in Abuja that the worsening power situation in the country was as a result of gas pipeline vandalism.
Nebo, who said this at a media briefing on the current challenges of power supply in the country, also apologised to customers for the difficulties they “are all going through, particularly at this time of the year”.
The minister, who decried the spate of gas pipeline vandalism in the country, said power generation had dropped to about 3,200MW from a little above 4,000MW as a result of sabotage.
“The recent dip in power supply has been due mainly to inadequate gas supply to thermal power plants,” he said.
He explained that about 2,300MW had been lost in the past few months due to the vandalism of five different gas pipelines that supply power to the national grid.
According to him, the affected pipelines include the Escravos-Lagos Gas Pipeline System with a generation capacity of 800MW and the Trans-Forcados pipeline with capacity of 800MW.
He said the Trans-Niger Pipeline with capacity of 500MW, the Alakiri-Onne gas pipeline and Chevron gas plant with capacity of 2,672MW were also affected.
He said the damage to some transmission lines and towers of the Transmission Company of Nigeria had also adversely affected power situation in the country.
“Other factors that recently impacted on service delivery in the sector include loss of transmission lines and substations across the country.
“You are aware of the collapse of 12 towers on the Sapele/Delta 330KV transmission line that occurred on March 9, thus constraining evacuation of power from the Delta power plant,
“The other incident includes the fire accident at Osogbo in which a 150MVA transformer was completely lost.
“The Federal Government, in collaboration with stakeholders in the sector, has commenced  rehabilitation of the affected pipelines and transmission infrastructure,” he said.
He noted that President Goodluck Jonathan, recently pledged $1billion to address pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.
On hydropower dams, the minister said the current low water level had greatly affected the use of the dams.
He gave the assurance that rehabilitation work was ongoing at the Kainji and Shiroro dams to upgrade them.
Nebo apologised to Nigerians for the inconveniences the epileptic power situation had caused and called on stakeholders to join government in transforming the sector.
“We also wish to use this opportunity to call on members of the press and the general public to join the fight against acts of vandalism,” he added.
Jonathan never confirmed NNPC withholding $10bn — Presidency
The Presidency on Tuesday refuted reports quoting President Goodluck Jonathan as ‘’confirming’’ in Amsterdam that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) wrongly withheld 10 billion Dollars from the Federation Account.
Dr Reuben Abati, the Senior Special Adviser to the President Media and Publicity,  made the denial in a statement in Abuja.
The statement described the report as ‘‘completely false and a total distortion of the president’s comments during his meeting with the Nigerian community in The Netherlands.
‘’Sensational reports in the media to that effect are reckless, mischievous and unprofessional misrepresentations of the president’s restatement to the Nigerian community of the Federal Government’s position on the allegation that 20 billion Dollars is “missing” from the NNPC or the Federation Account by reporters who were not at the event or even in Holland at all,’’ it said.
The statement said the president’s speech while responding to questions from members of the community on the allegation and other domestic issues were clear and unambiguous.
It said the president asserted that the allegation that various sums – 49.8 billion Dollars, 12 billion Dollars or 20 billion Dollars – were missing were inconsistent and lacked credibility.
The statement quoted the president as saying: “As at the time, the Finance Ministry was saying they had not been able to reconcile only 10 billion Dollars. There are issues in NNPC but we are on it.”
It added: ‘‘the president  went on to say that to reassure Nigerians of  his administration’s continued commitment to openness, transparency and probity in the aftermath of the unsubstantiated allegations, the Federal Government had authorised a professional forensic audit of NNPC accounts to clear the air.’’
The statement urged the media to show greater regard for truth and accuracy when reporting on the president.