Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has assured that 914 megawatts of electricity would be added to the national grid soon. The Minister gave the assurance at the inauguration of new Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Prof. James Momoh in Abuja. Fashola said 459MW will come from the Azura power plant in Edo State.
The minister submitted that the country’s power generating capacity had increased to 7,000MW, transmission also to 7,000MW while distribution had increased from 2,690MW to oscillate between 4,900 and 5,000MW. He added that the electricity market has a capacity of 2,000MW that has been stranded, which the ministry is working to distribute before the end of this year. Fashola said the mini-grid regulation has started yielding results, and that the ministry is already seeing the impact in the market.
He said this year, markets such as Suru in Lagos, Sabon Gari in Kano, Ariria in Aba, and some other markets are going to be energised. On his part, Momoh revealed that the sector is expecting another 240MW from Afam and 215MW from Kaduna. He added that the market is also expecting power from Kashimbilla, “but the distribution end is where our challenge lies.”
