The Federal Government has said that the near total blackout being currently experienced in most parts of the country will take the next two weeks to be resolved.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said this in Abuja on Tuesday at the 6th Power Summit/Civil Society Organisations Forum.
The electricity supply situation worsened in recent weeks as a result of acute shortage of gas to thermal power stations, shutdown of some plants for maintenance purposes and the failure of at least seven plants to generate power at all.
Nebo said gas supply constraints had grounded several power stations leading to a major cut in supply to the national grid, adding that repair works on the western area gas pipeline was almost completed.
“Hopefully, within two weeks, we will have more gas going into our power plants, which means we will have more power generation and increased supply,” he said.
The minister urged Civil Society Organisations and the media to mount campaigns against vandalism of gas infrastructure as the declaration of the Transition Electricity Market approaches.
He commended international donor agencies for their support and noted that there would be a national conference on power sector financing in February, where the government hoped to woo more local and international financiers to the sector.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali, announced that the Federal Government had approved the creation of the National Council on Power.
According to him, the council will provide a platform for stakeholders at the federal and state levels to formulate sustainable policies on power in the transition and post-privatisation era.
“I like to announce that Mr. President has just approved the National Council on Power, which is going to be a major development. We do not have a council for the sector before now,” Igali said.
He explained that the council would bring together all the states of the federation in order to make it an expanded forum, adding that the next National Power Summit would serve as the first outing by the council.
The permanent secretary noted that during the first NCP meeting, all commissioners in charge of power in all the states of the federation would come with their respective plans “and we will all sit to discuss what the Federal Government is doing, what the states are doing, and what the private sector is doing.”
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