Ibom Power Records 198 Days Without Outage As Fashola Dispels Possible Nation-Wide Power Outage

Akwa Ibom State Government owned Ibom power plant has been producing electricity for one hundred and ninety-eight (198) days stretch without outage.

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel had disclosed during a media parley that Ibom Power is the only state owned power plant generating 150MW of electricity.

This accomplishment by Ibom Power Company’s Management has surpassed the previous record of 114 days without outage which was celebrated last year. The uninterrupted power generation is made possible due to the installation of a Dead Bus closure technology in Ibom power plant unit 3 which has improved the plant operations.

With the installation of a dead bus technology, even when other parts of the country are without power supply from the national grid due to system collapse, Ibom power plant supplies power to Akwa Ibom State and the neighboring Cross River State.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has faulted the recent statement by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Dallas Peavey Jr., that the country’s power woes may worsen in the days, the Vanguard has reported.

Peavey Jr. had said the nation may experience total blackout due to liquidity and gas supply issues, threatening that owners of the plant might be forced to consider shutting it down if the challenges remained unresolved.

In response, Fashola while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Power Nigeria Agenda 2016, held recently in Lagos, said “all of the debts that are owed and legitimately contracted, verified will be paid”.

He said “there is a clear policy decision in that area, but it requires all operators, those who claim and those who have to pay to operate in a transparent manner. We will not pay debt that are not properly verified and accounted for.”

“We are synchronizing with the Generating Companies and the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) in order to ensure the service end that connects both, which is the Transmission Company of Nigeria is able to respond adequately on demand. These are some of the serious issues that we take up at our monthly power meeting. Our next meeting will hold in Sokoto,” the Minister said.

Based on the resolution at a previous monthly power meeting, Port Harcourt Disco, Ibom Power and Odukpani plants are currently developing an action plan that would direct extra power from both plants to Calabar to maximize generation capacity of both Odukpani and Ibom power plants.