Ministers Seek Unified Effort On Power Supply To Drive Economic Growth

In a move to bolster economic development, several ministers have called for a coordinated approach in tackling the challenges of Nigeria’s power sector to ensure reliable and sufficient power supply in the country.

The ministers of Power, Adebayo Adelabu; Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal; Water resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev;  Budget and Planning, Atiku Bagudu, at the inaugural meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Power Sector Working Group held at Ministry of Power, Abuja, emphasised the importance of the power sector in achieving economic growth and industrialisation.

They also highlighted the need for collaboration in tackling the challenges that could hinder the power sector from achieving full potential.

Addressing the ministers, Adelabu emphasised the importance of the power sector as a major driver of economic growth adding that this was in tandem with the vision of President Bola Tinubu for the power sector who sees the power sector as the driver of the other sectors of the economy.

“The President meant his words that he would give us all the support, all the backing and the inspirations we require to turn around this sector. He has kept his word since he assumed office. The improvement we have witnessed in the power sector is not unconnected to the backing and support of the President to all the policies and all the activities of the Ministry. And we are grateful for all the support. Just a few days ago, July 27 specifically, we successfully generated and transmitted 5105 megawatts of Power, the highest ever witnessed in the last three years. The capacity before now had always hovered around 4000 megawatts or below. But within a year of taking over, we have had about a 25 per cent increase. We are actually on the track towards achieving the President’s instruction to us that by the end of December, we must achieve a landmark generation and transmission of 6000 megawatts.

Adelabu, who spoke on the reason for setting up the ministerial working group, said the power ministry is on the right track towards achieving the presidential mandate. “We will not only focus on generation and transmission but also distribute it to the doorsteps of households, of businesses, of institutions and of industries in Nigeria.

So that they can feel the reforms and transformation in the power sector. Having realised this, we believed that power is not something that should be left alone to the Ministry of Power and its agencies because there are lots of supportive ministries without which we cannot achieve our mandate.

He noted that there had been a lot of informal meetings, gathering and conversation regarding activities in the power sector and how to interrelate and inter depend on each other. “We now felt we needed to bring ourselves together in a formal, official setting where all these issues would be discussed and everybody would be on the same page.

Adelabu said, presently, 75 per cent of Nigeria’s power generation comes from power gas plants while about 25 per cent comes from the hydro-electric power plants. “We have our large and small dams everywhere and we are still counting. At the same, we are focusing on generating power in a sustainable and environment-friendly manner. This is why we talk about renewables, through solar, wind and small dams. From this, you will know that the Ministry of Water resources is key to the success of the power sector and they have been doing wonderfully well. That is why they had to be part of the Inter-ministerial power sector team.

He further underscores the importance of gas in power generation. “Thermal generation goes with Gas. Gas availability in terms of quality, transportation and availability is key to all our power plants. The problem we had in January and February that led to shut down of Generating Companies (GENCOS) and blackout was due to short supply of gas in terms of quality and quantity, including pipeline vandalization. The Petroleum resource ministry is key to the raw material we need to generate over 70 per cent of power in the country. So if we do not cooperate, we do not collaborate, we do not partner, success would be far in the power sector,  that is why we have the Minister of State, Gas as a key member of this committee.”

Adelabu also spoke on the focus on renewable energy sources and clean power. “ We are migrating to more environmentally-friendly energy sources from our natural environment,  from sunshine, small dams, desert and offshore wind and supporting us in this regard is the Federal Ministry of Environment”.

He noted the importance of finance in achieving the Power sector objectives. He said it was on the basis of that that Ministries of Budget and National Planning and Finance were also incorporated into the Inter-ministerial working committee.

Adelabu acknowledged some Departments, Agencies and Parastatals, that are also important in achieving the power sector objectives such as the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA),  Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) including the Special Adviser to the President on Power and Infrastructure who is also a member adding that if there is need to incorporate other agencies, it would be one.

On the terms of reference of the group, the Minister said it is to activate seamless power sector liquidity and financing. Also to provide guidance in the governance structure particularly in the electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), to also look into “our energy transition programme, how do we transition into our net zero emission target in year 2060. We are working with the Ministry of Environment and NCCC and also focusing on our vision 30-30-30 by year 2030, which is to generate 30000 megawatts of Power, out of which 30 per cent will come from

renewable energy in 2030.

He also spoke on areas that would be covered such as the Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) in order to ascertain the national power need and how to achieve it.

Also speaking, the minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, who was in attendance with the minister of State in the Ministry Hon. Bello Goronyo acknowledged the importance of collaborating with the Power Ministry. “The Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Power are like brothers and sisters and we will do everything possible to work together to achieve the renewable energy agenda of the President in making life better for Nigerians”.

The minister of the Environment who was represented by the minister of State, Hon Iziaq Adekunle Salako spoke similarly, while emphasising the importance of the Power Sector in economic development. “There is no doubt that power is central to everything. Virtually everything we do these days have elements of Power. So, we need to take the power sector very seriously. It is central to everything that we do”.  He emphasised the importance of the environment ministry adding that power generation, transmission and distribution have an impact on the environment. “The Ministry of Environment is essentially a regulator in this process through some of our agencies and the Ministry”.

He noted that in all the power sector value-chain processes, waste is generated. “And how to manage this waste is important to us. As we go-ahead to develop our power sector, we are also developing a process to manage the waste that will come out”, he said.