Get Guardian on Google‘Recovered turbines unlocked 470MW, saved N30b’
The Federal Government has cleared 44 of over 300 containers of stranded electrical equipment at Apapa Ports, in a move to recover assets that have remained idle for years, with some held since 2014.
Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this after the last Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, saying that the clearance followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive to resolve the prolonged delays and facilitate the deployment of the equipment to the national grid.
Tegbe said the President had directed the Federal Ministry of Power to work closely with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to address the issues preventing the release of the containers.
He said the President also instructed the agencies to reconcile outstanding charges to remove the bottlenecks responsible for keeping the equipment at the ports.
The clearance of the first 44 containers, according to the minister, represents progress in the government’s efforts to recover electrical equipment already procured for power infrastructure projects.
He said that technical experts would inspect the equipment after clearance to determine which items were serviceable and could be deployed in ongoing power projects, while those considered unusable would be disposed of appropriately.
The development comes against the backdrop of previous efforts by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to recover abandoned power equipment, including 110 containers and 216 packages, under the leadership of its Managing Director, Jennifer Adighije.
The NDPHC’s recovery exercise reportedly saved more than N30 billion and unlocked about 470 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the national grid through recovered turbines.
The minister, however, said that the improved collaboration between the Ministry of Power, Customs and the NPA, backed by presidential intervention, would help to resolve the outstanding issues and facilitate the recovery of the equipment.
