President Muhammadu Buhari has said his government would generate 10,000MW of electricity in the next three years, adding that in 2016 alone, 2000MW will be added to the national grid.
Speaking at the two-day economic summit retreat by the National Economic Council yesterday, the President stressed that the incessant outages in the country were not a laughing matter. He said: “This sector has been privatised but has yet to show any improvement in the quality of service”
Buhari said insufficient electricity was the problem of past governments but will be properly looked into by his government, also promising to conclude the privatisation process started by his predecessor.
He identified common public complaints on the sector to include constant power cuts, high electricity bills despite the cuts, low supply of gas to power plants due to vandalization by ‘terrorists’, obsolete power distribution equipment and low voltage he said could not industrial machinery.
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The President said some of the problems had defied successive governments, adding however that his administration “must and will, insha Allah, put a stop to power shortages.”
He lamented that Nigeria was currently facing a dilemma of privatization which pitches public interest against profit motive. “Having started, we must complete the process. But National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the regulatory authority, has a vital job to ensure consumers get value for money and over-all public interest is safe-guarded,” he said.
He also said the government would fast-track the completion of pipelines from Gas points to power stations and provides more security to protect gas and oil pipelines.