What I Expect To Hear From The Minister For Power 

DR. UCHE DIALA 

The Honourable Minister for Power, Mr. Bayo Adelabu, has promised that Nigerians will experience marked improvement in power supply in the next six months.

He specifically wrote on his X(Twitter) handle thus:

“Within the next six months, there would be major additions to the national grid in terms of hydropower plants. That is the Zugeru 700MW in Niger state, which is about to be completed. This will be the biggest one in sub-Sahara Africa when completed”.

“The Kainji dam that we all grew up to know supplies about 460MW, Shiroro dam supplies about 520MW. I will do everything to ensure that Zugeru power plant is inaugurated and subsequently add 700MW to the national grid.”

“We know it’s not something that is achievable overnight but we believe that once the foundation is laid, others can also build on it and then we will begin to actualise the use of power for economic growth in our nation.”

I sincerely commend the honourable minister for this heartwarming information and I want to humbly and responsibly remind him that the laying of the “foundation” for improved power gained added impetus especially during the last administration. His task is to dilligently continue to build on it.

Some Background Information.

Construction works on the $1.3B 700-megawatt (MW) Zungeru hydropower plant which is estimated to generate 2.64 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year and to meet close to 10% of Nigeria’s total domestic energy needs started in May 2013 and were expected to take 60 months for completion.

However, legal and financial challenges related to ecological settlement in the affected area delayed the project which was eventually completed under the last Muhammadu Buhari led APC administration.

The Federal Government in February 2023 approved Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL) as the preferred bidder for the concession of the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant (ZHPP). As the operator of the plant, MESL will pay a fee of $70,000.25 per year for a period of 30 years through the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).

In May 2023, the test run of the Dam project was successfully done without any challenges. As reported by the consultant for the project, Dr. Johnson Adewumi of Decrown West Africa Company Limited:

“The combined test protocol for Zungeru hydropower was carried out Wednesday till the early morning of Thursday. Generation with load started at 7am on 25/5/2023 (Wednesday) and was maintained till 1am on 26/5/2023 (Thursday) under the control of the National Control Centre (NCC) and Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).”

“… The plant was stable, there was no unusual vibration and all monitoring equipment produced results consistent with technical specifications. The plant achieved a peak capacity of 718MW, which is a good value”.

That said, while the addition of 700MW capacity to the national grid is a monumental achievement, it is important to point out that that will not in and of itself automatically translate to uhuru in our power sector or bring an end to our electricity black out woes.

A major challenge with power in Nigeria is the imbalance between power generation, evacuation, dispatch and consumption. While we have an installed power generation capacity of approximately 14,000MW (14GW), only less than 5,000MW (5GW) (approximately 3,400MW or 3.4GW) on the average reaches the consumers.

This was why Siemens Energy was brought in by the last administration and the Siemens Nigeria Power Project which agreement was signed between Siemens Energy and the Federal government of Nigeria on July 22, 2019 with an immediate priority to close gaps in the system by enhancing the transmission and distribution segment of the power sector.

The Siemens Nigeria Power Project under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) Nigeria is planned to upgrade our electricity network to achieve an operational capacity of 25,000 megawatts (MW) from an average of around 4,500 MW, through a series of projects spanning three phases.

I and I am sure many engaged Nigerians would want to know from the honourable Minister, the status of the Siemens Nigeria Power Project. Is it progressing, what stage is it at and what do we expect?

We also would love to know what the minister intends to do about the DISCOs who have being a clear weak link in our quest to end the regime of power blackouts and brownouts in Nigeria.

It is important to know these, because as crucial as increasing our power generation capacity is, successfully and sustainably getting electricity to the homes and businesses of Nigerians is the ultimate goal. Only then can we say promise fulfilled or kept.

I wish the honourable minister well. If we get power right, then about 50% of our national challenges would have been solved or about solved.

©️ Uche Diala