Insecurity stalling 700MW Zungeru power plant completion, says FG

The Federal Government has declared that the plan to complete the 700 Megawatts (MW) Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Station has continued to suffer set back owing to the prevailing insecurity in the North West, a development, it said, forced workers out of the site.

However, the government has assured that the authorities were working hard to ensure that the project is completed. December 2021 target was set for the completion and commissioning of the project, which is envisioned to be the second-largest hydroelectric power station in the country, after the 760MW (1.02mhp), Kainji hydroelectric project.

The project, reportedly at 90 per cent completion, has continued to suffer setback following the killing of security guards and kidnap of two Chinese nationals on January 4, 2022.

During a briefing anchored by the Presidential Media Team at the State House, Abuja, Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, confirmed that “work on the project has slowed down, while efforts are on to rescue the Chinese workers.”

Aliyu blamed the epileptic power supply across the country on “reduction in water levels, which is usually experienced at this time of the year.”

The minister, however, intimated that government was working to resolve the temporary load-shedding challenges.
On the government’s metering policy, he noted: “We have said this times without number that these meters are free. They are instruments for generating money. How can we be selling meter?”

According to him, the government is executing up to $4 billion investments in the national grid to ensure that more power for the citizens’ consumption.

The minister also noted that the nation has an installed capacity of almost 18,000MW and not 13,000MW as believed by the public.

“I’d like you also to take away that we deliver 8,000MW of electricity daily through a combination of grid, embedded and industrial captive supply of electricity, not 4,000MW as is frequently reported, much of this capacity added during the life of this administration.

“These are not my figures; this was an industry study conducted by KPMG recently,” he said. He disclosed that the figure came from 28 power plants with installed capacity of 13,000MW and operational daily capacities of around 5,000MW at Egbin, Ughelli, Geregu and Kainji.