Nigerians have expressed dissatisfaction over the worsening level of power supply in the country, saying the development was counterproductive to the quest to grow the nation’s power supply.
They also said the erratic power supply for o two-weeks running does not bode well with the service-based electricity tariff which ought to guarantee them appreciable level of power supply.
But the Federal Government on Thursday when it attributed the dip in power supply to the collapse of 13 power plants in the country
Last week,the Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO), a department of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has disclosed it recorded 2,933Mw as lowest energy generation on April 12, 2021.
There was a record of 4,587mw peak generation,according to its system performance for the day in view.
The data noted the SO recorded a total generation of 3,992Mw and sent out 3,928mw.
Observers said gas challenge was responsible for the abysmal power generation,which had caused most power distribution companies to embark on load shedding amid protest by consumers in the country.
The Nigerian System Operator System Performance for Wednesday 07/04/2021 had reflected the lowest generation was 3,723MW.
The System Operator said the peak generation for the period under review was 4,427mw.The data indicated that the total energy that was generated was 4,078.7Mw on the day under review.
Aaron Artimas, Special Adviser, Media and communications to the Minister of Power, Mamma Sale, disclosed in a statement yesterday that the country’s persisting black out was due to the collapse of 13 power generation plants supplying electricity to the national grid.
The defaulting plants are : Sapele, Afam,Olonrunsogo, Omotosho, Ibom, Egbin, Alaoji and Ihovbor. The Jebba Power Plant was shut down for annual maintenance.
Seven other integrated Power plants, namely Geregu, Sepele, Omotosho, Gbarain, Omuku, Paras and Alaoji are experiencing gas constraints while the Shiroro plant has water management problems
He said: “The Ministry of Power is not unaware of the current power outages/shortages bedeviling many parts of the country. This unfortunate development has drastically affected power generation, thus effectively minimizing the national grid.
“In view of this, the Hon Minister of Power Engr. Sale Mamman regrets this unfortunate situation and offers his sincere apology to all affected Nigerians on the inconveniences the Power shortages are causing. He assures that the ministry through the appropriate Agencies is working assiduously to rectify the technical problems affecting the plants as well as resolving the gas issues to the others.
The Minister further promised that the national grid will be restored to its previous historic distribution peak of about 5,600MW of electricity achieved early this year, so as to relief Nigerians from the current harsh climatic conditions and restore full economic activities.
But Engineer Martin Onovo,a stakeholder in the power sector told Premium News that the excuse given for erratic power supply in the country does not gain strength and shows that the managers of the nation’s power sector lacks technical and professional competence to run same.
He wondered why the Power Ministry has continued to give Nigerians untenable reasons why the system can not run efficiently and effectively in a privatized environment where Nigerians pay heavily for services that are not even rendered very well by the service providers in the sector.
He added:”I think it is unthinkable and imbecilic to say that 13 power plants collapsed at a go.The plants should have spare capacity which is the structured,customary and universal principle of maintaining same”
Chinedu Bosah,the Coordinator for Affordable and Regular Electricity(CARE),also wondered why the managers of the power sector waiting till now for plants to pack up before crying out.
He told Premium News that the ruling elite in the country have interest of the masses at heart on improved power supply and services to their customers.
He added that current administration and service providers in the power sector are only interested in monetary gains .
An industrial printer in Shomolu area of Lagos,Makanjuola Adewale, said that the infrequent power supply lately had eaten deep into his operating cost.
He said he now runs his operation at a prohibitive cost which punctures his profit margin.
He added:”I think the infrequent power supply lately is very unfortunate and unthinkable.It’s a very terrible burden on my income and the running cost too.One would have thought that Nigerians would be spared of the usual rhetorics and baseless explanations for power hitches given the fact that we pay heavily for power in the country”
