Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi has commended the Federal Government and other stakeholders for the completion of three turbines power generation at Geregu Power Plant in the state.
Bello gave the commendation at the 22nd Power Sector Monthly Meeting with power stakeholders and other participants held at Geregu Power Plc, Ajaokuta on Monday.
The governor expressed his appreciation to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, the President and the Vice President for the good job they had been doing in the power sector.
“Today, we are glad that there is a relative improvement in the power generation and transmission across Nigeria, especially in Kogi.
“The Federal Government has virtually solved all the power problems but we need a little patience to identify the communities which do not have electricity in Kogi to install the required transformers.
“I want to encourage investors to make enough investment in power distribution so that various communities at the grassroots in Kogi and Nigeria at large can begin to enjoy the benefits.
“When we assumed office, we met a dispute regarding Kabba Power Transmission substation, but we immediately waded in and resolved the issues for the work to be completed.”
The governor said that the state government had made efforts to reduce cases of reported and unreported kidnapping and armed robbery cases in the state.
“Without adequate security, the power plant here will not be safe and we will not be talking about generation, transmission or distribution.
“We have been supporting and equipping our security agencies to ensure that the contractors and their workers working on the roads are safe and secure,” he said.
The Minister of Power Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola said that the power production had reached an all-time high of over 7,000 megawatts in the nation.
According to him, the ministry in collaboration with all the stakeholders has created a safe and more conducive environment to gain the confidence of investors in the power sector.
“On Dec. 8, we reached an all-time power production of 7,000 and a great peak supply of 5,155 Megawatts, which Nigeria has, never produced or generated that much power into the grid.
“The last supply was 5074 MW in January 2016, after which we went into a season of disruption of gas supply by militants.
“It means that our policies and programmes are working, and we are also now able to evacuate substantially all of that power by transmission,” he said.
Fashola expressed his gratitude to the government for paying the compensation that was militating against the development of the Kabba Transmission Sub-station.
Mr Adeyemi Adenuga, the Managing Director, Generation, Geregu Power Plant, said that the plant was handed over to a private company on October 1, 2013.
Adenuga said that the new owners had invested about 94 million dollars into the plant to bring it the present state.
“Right now, we can successfully run three units (turbines) comfortably, effectively and efficiently. So, we hope that from this meeting, we will get the needed loads for our machine,” Adenuga said.
Mr Otayitie Eminefo, the Special Adviser on Energy and Power to the governor, applauded the minister and stakeholders for their visit to the state.
He appealed to stakeholders to give priority to electrification projects in the state.
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