BY AKUDORO GLORIA
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu said that Federal Government has resolved to spend over N500bn to complete more than 100 abandoned projects for the Transmission Company of Nigeria across the country.
Adelabu made this disclosure during an official visit to the Kano State Governor, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) facilities to identify and tackle obstacles hindering optimal performance in the power sector.
The Minister, while engaging with stakeholders, apologized to Nigerians, particularly those from the northern region, for the prolonged blackout experienced for past two weeks.
Speaking at the KEDCO meeting, Adelabu said the abandoned TCN projects had reached between 80 per cent and 95 per cent completion stages.
He emphasized that the ministry had already written a special position paper to President Bola Tinubu, appealing to him to make available a special fund in the 2025 budget for the projects.
The minister, who expressed dismay over the neglect of the TCN projects, said many of the infrastructure had reached completion stages, adding that when completed, the projects would strengthen power supply across the nation.
On the power outage, the minister emphasised the need to revamp the transmission architecture, which currently relies heavily on Shiroro and Jos channels.
While stressing the need for investors to come in to boost power supply, the Minister explained the importance of exploring alternative power sources to serve as backups to the national grid had become necessary with a view to curtailing future occurrences of the collapse of the grid.
According to him, this radial system leaves the northern region vulnerable to electricity disruptions whenever issues arise with these lines. He added that this proactive approach aims to ensure that the region is prepared for any eventuality, including vandalism or national grid collapse.
Recognising the crucial roles various stakeholders play in achieving these objectives, he stressed that provision of electricity should not be the sole responsibility of the federal government.
“State governments should ensure effective implementation of providing alternative electricity sources and discos should also ensure reliable distribution services, while consumers should utilise electricity efficiently,” he said.
Adelabu, who expressed dismay over the metering process, said information available to him revealed that only 33 per cent of electricity consumers had meters. He admonished KEDCO and other discos across the nation to intensify efforts in making meters available to consumers with a view to ensuring effective service delivery.
Speaking during his visit to the Kano State Government House, he said, “What happened was not deliberate but unfortunate, it is not a situation we want to repeat itself. If at all or will happen, we need to have a permanent solution to it.”
The minister who revealed that interested investors were willing to invest in the Kano power sector, called on the state government to collaborate with the ministry in investing in power generation and distribution.
“There is a need to partner with us in generation and distribution. The Federal Government is ready to collaborate as there are a lot of projects left uncompleted that can lead to a lot of losses,” he said.
In his response, the Chief of Staff to the Kano Government House, Shehu Wada Sagagi, who represented the governor, assured the minister that the state government would look into ways to invest in the power sector and even also through the budget provide subsidies for consumers.