Following the incessant power cuts nationwide in recent times, the federal government on Tuesday met with the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to seek their collaboration in the planned ramp up of supply to Nigerians.
Speaking with representatives of both Discos in Abuja, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, said that although ramping up supply takes time, the power distributors can in the short term remove immediate obstacles and increase supply.
He admitted that the problem with the power sector is not what the government can just throw money at and get results immediately and sought the commitment of the operators beyond pursuing profits.
“Since I was drafted here in the ministry, unlike past administrations, we want to focus on bottom-up solutions. In the past, they have focused on top-down, looking at ramping up generation capacity with very little attention paid to the medium of transportation and delivery of power, which is transmission and distribution.
“We were carrying out just a little improvement or enhancement of our transmission capacity, while Discos have been left with no investment in infrastructure improvements? Even if you are able to generate this power, how do you get it to the consumer?
“What we are doing at the generation and transmission level is wasteful if you cannot get it to the consumers. Which is why we said we are to start from distribution.
“Let us look at the issues, how we can correct these issues and create the kind of market that we desire. Let’s start looking at what is the metering gap? What are the distribution infrastructure that need upgrade? What is our tariff policy? How do we reduce loss at the distribution level?
“How do we improve our collections? How do we get a lot of consumers that have been off the grid? How do we get them back to the grid and create the required demand? And that is what will dictate transmission improvements and generation output enhancements,” he added.
Adelabu stated that as a minister, his job revolves around policy formulation and policy execution, since he doesn’t own a power generator company, transmission company or a distribution firm.
“For those with generators, petrol and diesel are not affordable. So, you expect that the complaints will be escalated. You are our foot soldiers and I have instruction from high up there, whatever we need to do to correct this ugly situation, we must do it.
“ I will not wait here to get the situation worse and I am asked to leave my job, I will not leave, I will not wait to be asked to go, I will do everything possible to ensure we change the situation. But before then a lot of people would have lost their jobs, that’s just it,” he stressed.
In his remarks after a closed-door meeting with the minister, the Managing Director of AEDC, Mr Victor Ojelabi (AEDC), said during the meeting with Adelabu, the Discos were able to explain to the minister what is responsible for the sudden drop in supply.
“There’s generally low generation, which necessitated low allocation to both of us, AEDC and IBEDC. We gave statistics. For instance, for AEDC, my 2024, MYTO allocation is 611mw. In January, I got 561mw, that is a deficit of 50mw.
“But this was worsened in February. I got 464mw, which gave a shortfall of 147mw. So that is not available for our customer.
“And there are other issues with our brothers, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). We’ve highlighted all of them, and the minister was concerned. What is most cheering is that TCN is already working on some of those transmission limitations that we listed.
“And the minister gave a marching order that we should work together. We should show passion, we should show commitment, both Discos and TCN, to make sure that all these transmission limitations are resolved.
“He also let us know what the federal government through the ministry is planning on metering, to cover the metering gap within a short time. There’s also the plan by the federal government that each Disco should identify vulnerable areas where we need government to intervene so that they can provide transformer free of charge to the Discos on behalf of the citizens.
“What we have seen is that this minister is ready to work. Maybe led by what the president has done, that each minister has signed a performance bond.
“He wants to see the system work. It’s not a blame game, and he wants it to work. And he wants all of us to work together to make it happen. And we are ready to work together. On the Discos’ side, we will address any issue that comes up.
“Generation will be increased to 6,000mw within a short period. So TCN is ready to receive it. The Discos are ready to evacuate it and put smiles on our customers. Very soon, the narrative will change. We are ready to work together,” he added.
Also, the Managing Director of Ibadan Disco, Kingsley Achife, said extensive discussions were had with the minister, describing it as a candid discussion
“One way to solve it is to work together in partnership with our TCN partner. So we’ve looked at areas where there’s been issues, and the kind of problems it causes our customers,” he noted.
He noted that there were efforts to take advantage of the low-hanging fruits in all the franchises and to work cooperatively to ensure that there’s a seamless flow of power to the customers in those areas.
Also, the Director of Distribution at the Power Ministry, Baba Mustapha, said with the marching order to improve power supply, there was hope of ramping up supply in Abuja in a couple of weeks.
“We have been given a marching order. And those problems that jeopardise the supply of power in Abuja or reduce the supply in Abuja are being identified and it will be addressed in the next couple of weeks. And people will see improvement.
“As my other colleagues have said, the minister is committed to seeing that there is a power improvement in the country. Going by his signing of agreement with Mr. President to deliver, we have key performance indicators that he has to perform.
“And one of them is to supply a stable, gradual, improved power supply to Nigerians which we will realise in the shortest possible time,” he added.
Emmanuel Addeh
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