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Tag: Prof. Nebo

  • Power generation to hit 5,000MW in 2015 – Minister

    Power generation to hit 5,000MW in 2015 – Minister

    Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, on Thursday said Nigeria’s power generation will reach 5,000 megawatts in 2015.

    He stated this in Abakaliki,  Ebonyi, after witnessing the signing of contract for construction of a 2,000 megawatts power plant by the state government and a Korean company.

    The minister said President Goodluck Jonthan should be commended for the improvement recorded so far in power generation and supply in the country.

    He said, “There has been improvement in power supply all over the country and most people are positive about this. For the first time we have consistently been very close to 4,500 megawatts within the past one to two weeks, many people have noticed that.

    “If you are expecting to have a situation where you get 24 hours a day, seven days a week power supply, we are not there yet. The facilities are not there, President Jonathan inherited several problems in the infrastructure for electricity delivery in Nigeria. And because of these problems, it is not easy to achieve perfection overnight.

    “But one significant thing is that President Jonathan came when Nigeria was barely generating 2,000 megawatts. Today we are generating 4,500 megawatts. I believe  before he finishes his first tenure we will be generating over 5,000 megawatts.

    “Where else do you think this can happen that a man will inherit something, double the capacity in one tenure? So we should be very thankful for what is happening so far.

    “And I can assure you that the trend you are seeing is because we are having synergy with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and gas is now gradually coming in and as more gas comes in there will be more generation. And as we expand and strengthen our transmission facilities there will be more power distributed to our people.”

    He also said the Federal Government is working hard to ensure that every consumer in the country gets the pre-paid metre to reduce incidences of overbilling.

     

  • New owners take over power sector

    New owners take over power sector

    …Industry records N1tr debt

    The Federal Government on Friday handed over the physical assets of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to their new owners.

    However, just as the new investors were taking over the PHCN assets, the Federal Government announced that it recorded a liability of N1 trillion in the sector.

    The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who disclosed this to journalists at Abuja, said government has no “business doing business.”

    He said the PHCN has now ceased to exist but the debt which government incurred and their assets have been transferred to the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO).

    “Government has no business doing business, because government was doing business NELMCO now has between N600billion to N1trillion debt that needs to be settled. So some of these assets you are thinking will be stripped will not be stripped, they have been submitted to NELMCO,” he said.

    The minister noted that the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will soon roll out rules for the interim operation of the firms before the activation of the Electricity Transition Market.

    Prof. Nebo said he will declare the Electricity Transition Market following NERC advice that the conditions for the declaration have been met.

    He said the new owners are already aware that they have to make do with the interim electricity rules before the declaration of the electricity transition market.

    The minister added that after the declaration of the market, there will be post handover recovering in accordance with the investment and business plans for the new owners.

    He said there will also be a post handover monitoring by the Federal Ministry of Power, NERC and BPE.

    He said, “For today’s event, we must hand over physically five generation companies and ten distribution companies to the new owners. The handover automatically gives the new owners authority to take over and manage the companies in line with already established rules and guidelines by the Bureau of a public Enterprises and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

    “After the announcement and activation of the interim market rules by NERC, the regulator will very shortly announce to us what the interim rules for the market should be. Next is the declaration of the Electricity Transition Market by the minister and this will be made on advice by NERC.

    “Once NERC says all the conditions have been met, NERC will advise the minister to declare the transition electricity market. And then post handover recovery in line with agreed business and investment plans of all the new owners. And then post handover monitoring by all relevant bodies; Federal Ministry of Power, BPE and NERC.”

     

     

  • FG begins payment of PHCN workers’ severance package

    FG begins payment of PHCN workers’ severance package

    The Office Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) has commenced the payment of N34.585 billion to 3,938 staff of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

    The affected workers are those of Generation Companies (GENCO) and the PHCN Headquarters.

    According to an official of the Implementation Committee on the settlement of PHCN staff terminal benefits headed by Godswill Igali, names of the affected staff had been forwarded to the OAGF for payment.

    The official noted that “as at August 5, another 16,366 staff of the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) had been cleared by the auditors and are ready for onward transmission to the OAGF for payment and the amount is N84.5 billion.”

    The official added that, “so far 20,304 workers have been cleared. Hopefully, more staff would be cleared by the auditors before the end of this week as it is a continuous process.”

     

     

     

  • Revolution in power sector underway – Minister

    The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has assured that Nigerians would soon experience unprecedented revolution in the power sector.

    He also challenged the private sector to take advantage of the unfolding development in the industry by investing and taking position in the on-going privatization efforts of government.

    Speaking on Wednesday in his Abuja, when he received a trade delegation from United States of America led by Mimi Alemayehou, Vice President of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the minister assured the delegation of “incredible opportunities for investment in power as contained in the Transformation Agenda of the administration.

    He stressed that appropriate enabling environment would be provided for all genuine investors.”

    The Deputy Director/Head of Press, Timothy Oyedeji , revealed these in a statement on Wednesday.

    Drawing from the growth experienced in the telecommunication sector, Prof. Nebo said that it took time for Nigerians to realize the enormous opportunities in telecommunications “which at inception in 1999 has less than one million GSM lines, but today boasts of over 100 million GSM lines.”

    According to him, this development can only be said to be “astronomical, unbelievable but real.”

    Prof. Nebo said it is therefore imperative for the private sector to consider investments not only in power generation but also in transmission, renewable and solar energy.