FG to ensure power supply stabilises within 2 yrs – Maku (Like a broken record)

Posted by admin Latest Politics Monday, May 23rd, 2011

The Minister of Information and Communications, Mr Labaran Maku, says the Federal Government is working to ensure that power supply stabilises across the country within two years.

Maku said this in Abuja,Sunday while speaking at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) People’s Forum which has the theme “Making accountability the watchword.’’

He said government had always been working towards achieving regular power supply, in order to facilitate meaningful industrial development in the country.

“By the middle of next year the power sector would have been improved. The President (Goodluck Jonathan) knows that if there is anything that Nigerians will hold him responsible for, it is the power sector.

“It is my belief that in another year or two we should have stable power supply, because the federal government is committed to the stabilisation of the power sector,’’ Maku said.

He said the relevant stakeholders and contractors who have been handling new power projects were always holding consultations with the government on how to make power stable in the country.

The minister noted that the country’s industrial sector could not rely on electricity from generators if Nigeria is to compete with other developed nations.

He gave assurances that the country’s next administration under President Goodluck Jonathan would tackle the problem of erratic power supply.

Maku said that the Mambilla Plateau Hydropower Project in Taraba, which has been named Nigeria’s Three Gorges Project, would generate 2,700 megawatts of electricity when completed.

“It is going through scientific construction and it has to take some time.

”It is not possible to fast-track it because it is scientific. But with the level of the work, power supply will be stabilised very soon,’’ he said.

The minister recalled that the present administration had from inception identified a viable power sector as the tool for boosting Nigeria’s industrial base.

He then reiterated the commitment of President Jonathan to reform the power sector to enhance economic activities in the country.

-Guardianwp_posts