Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, and his counterpart, Minister of State for Power, Mohammad Wakil, have poured encomiums on President Goodluck Jonathan over what they described as his unparrelled performance in the power sector.
Briefing the nation on the commissioning of Olorunshogo power plant, Prof. Nebo the commissioning of the power station, being third in the series of the ten power stations constructed by the Niger delta power holding comapnt (NDPHC) under the National integrated power project (NIPP) scheme, was a testament of President Jonathan administration’s commitment to the reform and development of the power sector.
He said: “Under your bold and purposeful leadership, the power sector has recorded major world-acclaimed landmarks in policy direction with the successful privatization of the generation and distribution sub-sectors and significant addition to power generation capacity with the completion of the NIPP projects, the commissioning of one of which is taking place today. Today’s ceremony is therefore a clear demonstration of your administration’s steadfast follow-through on the projects necessary to realise your vision of bringing power to every Nigerian household.
“It demonstrates the commitment and visible support of your administration to the completion of all on-going projects under various agencies in the Power Sector which will contribute in no small measure to the socio-economic development for the vast majority of Nigerians and the participation of the private sector players in the reform process.
All these are in line with the transformation agenda of this administration on which the road map for the reform of the power sector which was launched by you in October, 2010 is anchored, and on the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act of 2005.”
He said privatization of the power sector was working contrary to the belief in some quarters.
“The dogged determination of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to go through with the privatization of the generation and distribution assets is now beginning to be borne out to the benefit of the Nigerian electricity consumer.
“Permit me to share a couple of examples. Ughelli Power Plant, which at the time it was privatized in 2013 was barely able to generate 160MW is today capable of generating 610mw, with a target of 850MW by end-2015. Egbin Power Plant has succeeded in recovering all its installed capacity of 1320MW with the installation a new 220mw turbine.”
On his part, the minister of state said President Jonathan’s record in the power sector wasunrivalled, citing “the political will demonstrated by the administration in completing and refocusing inherited and even ill conceived power projects.”
He said: “The roadmap to power sector reforms of 2010 has been faithfully implemented under the guidance of Mr President. A lot has been done in the sector and one of such accomplishments is what we are witnessing today.
“In the next few days,Nigerians will also be briefed on the over three hundred rural electrification projects initiated and completed by the Jonathan presidency. Let put politics aside, this administration scores first in national infrastructure development.”