Nigeria records new peak of 5,222mw of power

By Musa Adamu

Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced the new peak of electricity at 5,223mw successfully transmitted on the national grid on December 18, 2017 at 9pm.
In a statement signed by the GM Public Affairs Ndidi Mbah, TCN, the company said this achievement was the highest ever recorded in the nation’s power sector to-date.
It said this surpassed the 5,155.9MW achieved on December 8, 2017 and the earlier peak of 5,074.70MW, achieved on February 2, 2016.
The statement noted that the gradual but steady improvement in the nation’s power sector was attributable to the strategy of the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari geared towards growing the Power Sector, in line with its policy on incremental power.
At the 22nd Power Sector Stakeholders Meeting, the Minister of Power Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola, assured that the current synergy among the Presidency, Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and other major power sector stakeholders working through the Power Sector Recovery Program (PSRP) would continue to deliver improved power supply to the people.
To properly key into the incremental power policy, TCN stated that it had developed the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion programme to enable it prioritize and execute critical transmission projects.
It said: “This necessitated the clearing of the company’s stranded containers carrying various transmission equipment at the sea ports, to enable it complete previously abandoned projects to further expand the grid capacity.
“Of the 759 containers abandoned by contractors at the sea ports within the last five years, 454 have been cleared from March to-date. Payment for 193 containers has been made and they are being cleared, while payment for the outstanding 112 containers is yet to be made.”
TCN further explained that all the 454 containers cleared from the ports had been taken to various construction sites such as Yola, Gulak, Katsina,Jos, Dambatta, Ganmo, Abeokuta,Onitsha and Benin.
According to the company, other construction sites include Odoguyan, Ede, Igangan, Okene, Walalambe, Akwanga, Kachia, Kumbotso, Kaduna and Yola.
The statement added that the containers had been abandoned at the ports for between 2 to 6years by contractors, for various reasons including suspension of TCN Import Duty Exemption Certificate(IDEC) in 2013, by the Ministry of Finance, slow processing of IDEC by TCN in the past and inefficiency of the contractors.
“The result was several uncompleted transmission projects in various parts of the country.”
TCN reiterated its commitment to continue to work to further stabilize, rehabilitate and expand the grid and called on all Nigerians to work with the sector in safeguarding electricity installations nationwide.