TheCable

Chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi has promised Nigerians that electricity generation nationwide would soon be so efficient that the target of 12,000 megawatts by 2016 would be surpassed.

Speaking in Minna at a town hall meeting with stakeholders, Amadi revealed that the commission has already issued license to private power plant operators who would generate 10,000 to 12,000 megawatts of electricity within two years.

“Already we have issued license to investors to generate over 20,000 megawatts before 2016,” he said. “I am sure that with all the efforts put in place, our power generation will surely surpass our target by 2016.”

He commended the Federal Government for its reforms and regulations in the sector, saying it has triggered huge foreign investment.

“The power sector had been without framework without any cost-related terms and inconsistency in policy that had been the order of the sector, but it is now being regulated,” he said.

“This has built confidence in investors, which in turn will boost the sector and our national generation level.

“We are also diversifying by giving more licenses for solar, small hydro, wind firms; and asking distribution companies to procure small powers within their communities in order to generate some small megawatts to take care of their immediate environs without going to the national grid.”

It has become the custom of key officers in the power sector and in the Federal Government to periodically declare enticing electricity generation targets, only to subsequently turn around to set fresh targets.

Over the last one year alone, Chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi; erstwhile Minister of State for Power, Mrs. Zainab Kuchi; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Egbin Power Plant, Mr. Mike Uzoigwe; Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo; Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power, Mr. Reynold Dagogo-Jack have all promised lofty targets only to recant themselves later.