Following persistent dip in the megawatts of electricity in the country with generation hovering around 4,000 megawatts, the Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, says gas shortage has frustrated government’s effort in the power sector.
Specifically, he said the inability to accomplish the 5,000 megawatts he promised the nation by July 1 this year is a function of gas supply and contract.
Aliyu noted that in spite of federal government’s contract with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc for gas to power supply, power generation had remained at about 4,000 megawatts.
“Regarding the drop of electricity, yes the supply has so many players, gas, the cost that drop, issues of gas to some power plants. They cannot switch on their plant and if they do you will experience some drop once they switch on.
“There may be drop due to fault of generator and it is mostly generation. I have been watching since yesterday (Tuesday) evening, we had a generation of around 4600 megawatts.
“We told you since 1st July that we will be able to raise it up to 5,000 megawatts when we activated the contract and we have not been able to do so due to some issues around gas contracts and gas to power which we are trying to take care of.
“We have gone very far with that and I believe, it is for that reason that we are able to reach up to 4600 as of yesterday.
“This morning (Wednesday), it dropped to 4100. So, this is what is happening, you will be experiencing this fluctuation due to all these issues around gas to power because gas is not something that we control directly.
“They will not give you gas until you pay. So, we are looking at ways to solve that issue. We are working around the clock to ensure that we raise the capacity to the required level,’’ Aliyu told State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
On the 700 megawatts Zungaro Hydro electric power project, the minister disclosed that FEC approved N2.740 billion as revised estimates for the building of structure at the facility, compensation and resettlement of the communities affected by the project.
Persecondnews reports that with revised estimates, the amount has been raised from the initial N19.640 billion to N22.380 billion.
On the soaring inflation in the country, the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, said fiscal and monetary measures were being taken by the government to stem the inflation rate, the highest in 17 years.
Persecondnews had reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate has surged from the previous month’s 18.60 per cent to 19.64 percent in July 2022, according to the latest data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
According to the NBS data, the uptick in the inflation rate was driven by increases in the food and core indexes.
The last time Nigeria’s inflation was above 19.64% was in September 2005 when it rose to 24.32%.
According to the NBS, the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, meat, fish, oil, and fat.
Further breakdown of the report shows that the urban inflation rate rose by 2.08% to 20.09% in July 2022 from 18.01% recorded in July 2021, while the rural inflation rate hit 19.22% from 16.75% recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July was 2.04%, this was a 0.01% insignificant decline compared to the rate recorded in June 2022 (2.05%).
“This decline is attributed to a reduction in the prices of some food items like Tubers, Maize, Garri, and Vegetables.
But rising in defence of the government, Mohammed said: “I wish my colleague the Honourable Minister of Budget, Finance and National Planning, was here and she will probably tell you both the fiscal and monetary measures government is taking, especially in the area of the medium term fiscal measures.
“But what I can tell you is that inflation is a global issue. And I think it reflects, you know, a lot of things going on, globally. But what government does to stem inflation varies from government to government.
“Sometimes it is the way you adjust your interest rate or the way you introduce certain fiscal measures that would allow you to bring down the inflation. But like I said, I wish the Minister of Finance was here she will be in a better position to tell me exactly what measures we have been taking to ensure that inflation does not continue to soar.”
Also addressing the media briefing, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Umana Umana, gave a “cheering news’’ about the constitution of the board of the NDDC, saying government is “anxious’’ to see the board in place as it would aid the “smooth working of the ministry’’.
Umana, however said the board would have to wait until the forensic report about the audit of the commission is out.
“Government is at the stage of concluding on that and I can very conveniently say that the constitution of the board will follow immediately thereafter. Nobody is trying to stall the constitution of the board.
“I want the board in place because it will make my work run smoothly. But we must also follow the due process, conclude on this report and the white paper is issued. So that is the position,’’ the minister said.
Umana also disclosed that FEC has approved additional costs of carrying out the forensic audit.
“You will recall that for this exercise a lead consultant was appointed who had to work with 16 other field auditors and the initial contract zone which covered the lead consultants and the field forensic auditors was N1.786 billion.
“These auditors have since concluded their work but in the cost of carrying out this work, it was discovered that they had to deal with many more projects than were initially envisaged and the exercise also took an additional seven months.
“The total number of additional projects considered by the auditors was 3,773. So for reasons of the additional number of projects and the additional time taken, Council today approved a revised additional sum of N765,974,975.50 to cover the additional works done by the forensic auditors,’’said the Niger Delta Affairs, who took over from Sen. Godswill Akpabio following his resignation in June to pursue his presidential aspiration.
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