Govt to get alternative power supply soon

Niger Government says it is negotiating with two companies from Israel and the United Arab Emirates to build an alternative power source in the state.

Gov Sani Bello of Niger disclosed this on Tuesday when he received Emir of Minna, Alhaji Umar Faruk who paid him Sallah homage in Minna.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government at a news briefing on Aug. 12 had threatened to stop payment of electricity bill to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), if power outages persist in the state.

Bello said the state, which hosts three hydro power generation stations with 1, 600 mega watts capacity each, should not be experiencing such power outages.

He said that the alternative means would be necessary following persistent power outage in the state.

According to him, having alternative power supply would guarantee steady electricity supply in the state.

“We have demanded from electricity generating companies to allocate additional 10 per cent electricity from the national grid to the state.

“That is yet to yield result; we can no longer wait but to take appropriate action to seek other means of steady electricity supply to our people.

“We have started talks with two electricity companies based outside the country.

“We will start with Minna, the state capital then it will cut across other local government areas of the state.

“Though the president is aware of our plight, we will try on our part pending when the 10 per cent additional allocation we are demanding will be allocated to us, we will look for alternative way,” he said.

He, however, called on the people to be law abiding in their various communities, adding that peaceful co-existence was a way forward for national development.

Earlier, Faruk had commended the state government for setting up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry into the remote cause of crisis in the state.

He called on traders to desist from using global economy recession as an opportunity to exploit people, and hike the prices of commodities.