TheCable

The federal government says it will increase power generation to 9,000 megawatts by the end of 2018.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, made this known on Tuesday while speaking at a NAN Forum in Abuja.

The minister said the government will add 2,000 megawatts to the current 7,000 capacity.

Mohammed said the government will also embark on 90 power transmission projects nationwide to further raise power generation capacity.

“By the end of this year, we are going to have an extra 2,000 megawatts of power to add to the 7,000 that is being generated,” the minister said.

“So we can say that when we came in 2015, two arms of power had been privatised – generation and distribution – leaving only transmission.

“Power generated by all the 13 or so generating companies was 4,000 megawatts; power distributed by all the DisCos (distribution companies) was 2,690; the transmission rate capacity was 5,000 megawatts.

“Three and a half years later, that is today, we generate 7,000 megawatts, (up) from 4,000 megawatts, which means on the average, we will be adding 1,000 megawatts every year.”

Mohammed said the government had embarked on a transmission expansion and rehabilitation programme which made it possible for the transmission to go from 4,000 to 7,000.

“This didn’t come by accident; it came because we were determined to ensure that we improve power generation, which made it possible for our transmission to go from 4,000 to 7,000 megawatts,” he said.

“So we can say that when it comes to power no government has done what we have done in three and half years.”