Nebo blames poor gas supplies for drop in power generation

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said that the 2,628.6 megawatts of electricity generated in Nigeria as at 6am on Saturday was a sharp drop from the little above 4,000MW, which the Federal Government had recently announced as the country's generated power.

Nebo said the current situation is as a result of severe leaks in the supply of gas to some strategic power plants across the country.

Nebo, according to a statement on Saturday, which was signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Ms. Kande Daniel, described the development as worrisome.

The minister, in the statement said, 'Total grid generation as at 6am on Saturday is 2,628.6MW,' adding, 'With this low level generation, management of the grid is currently a big task, necessitating a nationwide load shedding.'

While explaining the current grid generation situation, Nebo attributed the drop to the low gas supply to the generation plants especially in eastern Nigeria.

He said three power stations in the region: Afam IV, Afam VI, and Rivers Independent Power Plant, were shut down again on Friday night, as a result of gas constraints arising from condensate issue on the Trans National Pipeline.

This, he said, put total generation loss from the stations at 624MW.

He said Olorunsogo power station was also down due to low gas pressure, and as a result, 89MW of power was lost.

The minister went further to state that low head water elevation was also limiting generation at Kainji and Jebba hydro stations to one unit each.

Nebo, however, observed that the Federal Government had moved in to arrest the crisis in the gas sector as this was affecting power generation in parts of the country negatively.

He stated that the government was assembling a crack team of experts across the oil industry to investigate in particular the cause of the severe leaks in the gas supply channels in the eastern part of the country and determine measures to ameliorate the situation.

The minister said it was painful that this was happening when many Nigerians were already  rejoicing and celebrating over the stabilisation of power nationally.

He noted that as soon as the cause of the leakage was established, measures would be taken to fix the problem.

Nebo solicited for understanding and urged Nigerians to be patient, stressing that the situation was being tackled.