TheCable

The federal government says it plans to raise electricity from 4,000 megawatts (MW) to 6000MW within the next three to six months to improve power supply.

Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, spoke in Abuja on Monday while meeting with the heads of power agencies and other stakeholders in the industry.

“4000 megawatts is not acceptable and we have plans to increase the megawatts to a minimum of 6000 to 6500 within the next three to six months,” Adelabu said.

“What we are looking at is to have an agreement to ramp up to a minimum of 6000 megawatts within the next three to six months.

”I know that the highest we ever generated was 5,700 megawatts about three years ago, that was specifically in Nov. 2021.

”And these 5700 megawatts were also distributed. If we could achieve 5,700 at that time, I believe we still have the infrastructure to generate between 6,000 and 6,500.”

Adelabu said he had visited several generation companies and confirmed they had the installed capacity to generate 6000MW.

He added that a large percentage of the installed capacity is operational, but they are not available because of low or shortage in gas supply.

“Once there is gas supply, we want to ramp up generation to a minimum of 6,000 megawatts,” he said.

The minister said he received information about a couple of improvements in the sector but that is not still acceptable until there is a quantum leap in stable electricity supply.

“We need to do what we need to do to get the power sector to the desired level. Nigerians deserve the right to ask for good governance from people that are elected to power,” Adelabu said.

“They deserve the right to ask for improvement in service. People cannot be paying for darkness. What they should be paying for is light. And there should be consistent improvement in supply on a daily basis.

“So, I also want to use the opportunity to reassure Nigerians that what we are experiencing is temporary. We are addressing the root cause of all these issues.”

He said the ministry of power and the agencies under it are working day and night to ensure the situation is reversed quickly..

Adelabu said the ministry and its agencies would not relent until stable power is achieved, adding that the meeting was called to address the issues in the power sector.

The minister said the administration of President Bola Tinubu is committed to addressing the root cause of the issues so the consumers can experience consistent electricity supply.

Adelabu said there is a need to compel electricity distribution companies to perform even though they are in the private sector.