FG Reassures On Power Equipment Protection

The Federal Government
has reiterated its determination to ensure the adequate protection of power equipment across the country.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, said to achieve the desired result, federal government was intensifying measures to check the frequent vandalisation of power equipment and effect of gas pipeline vandalism.
The minister, who spoke through his special assistant on media, Mrs Kande Daniel, said government was also executing its plan to ensure diversification of the nation’s energy sources to check over-dependence on gas fired power plans.
Nebo said government had licensed some investors to provide and supervise solar and coral power projects in order to ensure successful delivery of the pilot solar powered projects across the country.
He said war against vandalism had become imperative and very urgent priority of government in view of the now obvious acts of sabotaging power sector reforms through pipeline vandalism, stressing that such singular act had repeatedly been throwing the country into darkness, after measures had been put in place to improve power supply, generation and transmission capacities across the nation.
The minister said that one of the nation’s most critical gas pipelines, the Escravo-Lagos Gas Pipeline A (ELPSA) was on March 11 blown up with an explosive device at Egwa near Batan in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State by vandals.
He said the attack was the fourth in the year which came after repair work was carried out on an earlier attack of March 1, stressing that gas had started to be introduced in the pipeline again before the latest attack.
The minister said that government will never allow the intension of the vandals aimed at crippling the power sector materialize stressing that measures have been put in place to ensure that the vandals act of bringing untold hardship on the generality of Nigerians for either their political or financial gains or both never succeed.
Nebo said although these acts of pipeline vandalism have held power generation at less than 4000mv as against currently available capacity of over 5000mv, government was determined to provide necessary security through the collaboration of security agencies to protect the nation’s oil and gas installation.