Written by Samuel Ibiyemi, Lagos Monday, 21 June 2010
IN the pursuit of the 6,000 megawatts unrealised target of December 2009 by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as a result of inadequate gas supply, electricity generation, for the first time in six months, peaked at 3,759.9 megawatts on Sunday.
The achievement of PHCN is coming at a time that President Goodluck Jonathan approved an enhanced welfare package for electricity workers in the country to strengthen their commitment towards achieving the administration’s ambition of 6,000 megawatts by December 31, 2010.
Minister of State for Power, Mr Nuhu Somo Wya, who dropped this hint at the weekend while addressing the workers during his tour of Shiroro Hydro-Electric Power Station in Shiroro, Niger State, said the package was to encourage and motivate the workers so as to double their efforts in the current drive to resolve once and for all, the perennial power crisis plaguing the nation.
Electricity generation data obtained from PHCN headquarters show that the addition of over 500MW was made possible by the recent rehabilitation initiated by the administration of President Jonathan and improvement in water level of hydro-electric power stations located at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro. For instance, four units at Kainji contributed 269MW, three units at Jebba produced 248MW and three units at Shiroro 400MW.
In the case of gas-fired power stations, 622 MW was generated by four units at Egbin, Delta II -453MW, Sapele-169MW, Afam VI of Shell- 446MW, Okpai of Agip- 453MW, Omotosho-66.1MW, Omoku – 31.7MW and Olorunsogo-73.3MW.
The data revealed that there was no contribution from Geregu Power Station on Sunday as a result of two units that tripped off early in the morning due to high frequency. There was also no contribution from the Independent Power Stations (IPPs) located at Trans Amadi in Rivers State and Ibom, in Akwa Ibom State. At Jebba hydro-station, two units on annual maintenance programme did not generate electricity on Sunday.
“We hope to achieve 4,000mw during the first week of July for the first time in the history of electricity generation in Nigeria by the time we receive additional 200mw from Afam VI of Shell and resumption of generation by units at Egbin and Jebba undergoing annual maintenance,” the senior official said.
Wya, however, said verification and audit would soon commence and would be carried out before effecting the payment, adding that government would, through the process, ensure that all workers received their full entitlements.
The minister told the workers that he visited the power station on the instruction of President Jonathan to assess the challenges on the ground and to assure them that the Federal Government appreciated what they had been doing.
He expressed delight that the Shiroro hydro-power complex had been generating at 75 per cent installed capacity since inception and described the achievement as “no mean feat.”
Wya told the workers that the country was proud of them and commended the managerial skill of the Chief Executive Officer of the station, Mr Dauda Abdul Aziz.
The minister, who visited every crane of the complex, expressed satisfaction at the devotion of all the members staff who, he said, spent 24 hours at their duty post to ensure that the country had electricity.
Wya said the government had made electricity generation and supply its priority and, therefore, would not leave anything to chance to ensure that the sector ran smoothly.
The minister told the workers that President Jonathan assumed the leadership of the sector not only to personally pilot its activities, but also to guarantee the closeness of the workers to the government.
“All the stakeholders in the power sector, from the Bureau of Public Procurement; Bureau of Public Enterprises; finance and water ministries and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been constituted to the Presidential Action Committee on Power to ensure that nobody is left out in the movement for new Nigeria engineered by a rejuvenated power sector,” Wya said.
He urged them to continue what he called their good industrial relations with the host communities, adding that essential needs of the Shiroro community had been captured in the 2010 budget.
In his response, the chairman of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Saba Mohammed, pledged the union’s preparedness to raise their efficiency to 200 per cent as part of their national service.
On the minister’s entourage were top management staff in the power sector, including the Managing Director of PHCN/TCN, Mr Hussein Labo; departmental heads and hydroelectric engineering experts, among others.
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