President assures his administration will ensure steady electricity supply

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, August 12, in Abuja pledged that his administration would ensure steady electricity supply for faster socio-economic development.

Buhari stated this after being briefed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali.

According to the president, his administration will give the fullest possible attention to boosting power supply in Nigeria because it was convinced that steady electricity will launch the country into faster economic growth.

The president revealed that his administration had also prioritised certain measures in its action plan to boost electricity supply in Nigeria.

"The problems besetting our power sector are not difficult to identify. Therefore, priorities can be easily set in order to tackle them.

"The problems are more with transmission than generation, and we equally need to secure the power infrastructure round the country.

"We will address all these issues,’’ he assured.

Igali had informed the president that power generation in Nigeria, which was 1,750megawatts (MW) in 1999, had now peaked at 4,600MW.

He added that gas was available to take generation to 5,500 MW in a short time, but that the country needed to expand its electricity infrastructure to accommodate additional power generation.