PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has
challenged the Federal Ministry of Power to work harder to achieve
steady and uninterrupted electricity for Nigerians.
The Permanent Secretary, Godknows Igali,
in a presentation, told the President that the Nigeria Electricity
Supply Industry (NESI) had, in the last two months, raised generation
from 3,000 MW to 4,600MW.
Buhari, however, urged the ministry to improve on this by working harder to achieve more.
Igali spoke to reporters in Abuja
yesterday during a presentation of the National Renewable Energy Action
Plan, National Energy Efficiency Action Plan and Sustainable Energy for
All (SE4ALL) Action Agenda.
He said: ‘’Yesterday, after a
presentation on the state of the Power sector to the President, he said
’yes, you are trying, but go and work harder’. And we are now going to
work harder to ensure Nigerians get better and reliable light as soon as
possible.”
Besides, Igali said the ministry had
been discussing with governors on the possiblity of exploring solar
energy sources, beyond the thermal source.
According to him, production of
electricity from solar requires vast land, which makes unavailability of
land in states a major issue.
He added that he urged the governor to
allow investors easy access when they seek land for solar, instead of
frustrating them with bureaucracies.
Igali said : “What we have been
discussing with the governors is that we should look beyond thermal
sources for our energy. So let land be available: land for investors
that want to invest in solar, because solar takes much land.
“ One mega watt takes like one hectare
of land or a little below. So land is an issue in many states –
availability and access to land. But once it is constructed, it becomes
of benefit to everybody.
“So, this is the point we want to
discuss with the governors and for them to work with us . When an
investor comes, I will send him to his state and he will have to go to
the Ministry of Land and they refer him and say go to Governor’s Office
and after that they say go and some of these investors become
discouraged . So that is what we were discussing and we are getting
cooperation from many states.”
The permanent secretary noted that for
sustainability, the energy mix had to change from mono-dependence on
thermal (gas) sources, which have suffered from gas pipeline vandalism.
He said there were technical losses since the power is trucked across the country through the transmission grid.
But for sustainability and technical
efficiency, Igali said the NESI could sustain solar technology with our
abundance of sunshine.
On the contribution of the European
Union and GIZ to the development of renewable energy in Nigeria, Igali
said “they are contributing money. The money does not come to us. The
money goes directly to the projects. They have chosen five states where
they want to work.”
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