The
federal government has apologised to Nigerians for the persistent power
failures, blaming the situation on gas failure as well as sabotage and
vandalisation of power infrastructure.
Lai Mohammed
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by Segun Adeyemi, special
adviser to Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, the
President Buhari-led federal government has apologised to Nigerians for
the persistent power failures, blaming the situation on gas failure as
well as sabotage and vandalisation of power infrastructure.
The federal government said that all efforts were being made to
rectify the situation and ensure a gradual improvement in the power
situation.
"There will be a decent improvement in the power situation from
this weekend, thanks to ongoing remedial efforts that will double the
current power supply to 4,000WM. Getting back to the 5,074MW all-time
high that was reached earlier will take a few more weeks," Mohammed said.
The minister said that at a time the routine maintenance by the
Nigeria Gas Company had affected the supply of gas to power stations,
forcing down power supply from an all-time high of 5,074 MW to about
4,000MW, a combination of unsavoury incidents further crashed the power
supply to about half that figure.
"The vandalisation of the Forcados export pipelines forced oil
companies to shut down, making it impossible for them to produce gas.
Then, workers at the Ikeja DISCOS, who were protesting the disengagement
of some of their colleagues after they failed the company’s competency
test, apparently colluded with the National Transmission Station in
Osogbo to shut down transmission.
"Finally, the unfortunate strike by the unions at the NNPC,
over the restructuring of the corporation, shut down the Itarogun power
station, the biggest in the country. Due to these factors, only 13 out
of the 24 power stations in the country are currently functioning. It is
this same kind of unsavoury situation that has affected fuel supply and
subjected Nigerians to untold hardship."
The minister condemned the situation in which some Nigerians, under
the guise of the various unions in the oil and gas sector or sheer
vandalisation, would continuously sabotage the country’s power
infrastructure.
"The bitter truth is that for as long as these groups of
Nigerians continue to sabotage the power infrastructure, Nigerians
cannot enjoy a decent level of power supply. We therefore admonish all
Nigerians who may be agitating for their rights in whatever form to
refrain from any action that will further hurt the same people they
claim to be protecting," he added.
