The Federal Government has approved the disbursement of N200 billion to the power sector to boost the supply of power by the gas-plants to the Generation Companies (GenCos) to enable Nigerians to enjoy electricity supply.
The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Mr Mele Kyari made this known on Wednesday, saying the provision was part of the Federal Government commitment to boost the supply of electricity during this period of lockdown.
The GMD disclosed this at the end of his meeting with the Minister of Power, Engr Sale Mamman and the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Usman Mohammed at the Ministry of power office in Abuja.
In his statement which partly reads;
“The federal government has approved the payment of over N200 billion to the power sector in the two or three days.
This will go a long way in making sure that those payment issues are resolved. We are engaging as the government to make sure that those payment issues are fully settled,”
He revealed the meeting was held on the request of the minister of power to further improve gas supply to the power plants.
Mr Kyari said he would soon visit all the power plants on Thursday to ensure the work is ongoing without hitches so that Nigerians would enjoy uninterrupted power supply during this period of lockdown.
The TCN boss said that though there is enough gas supply now, there are still plants that do not have a gas supply agreement.
Mr Mohammed revealed, such agreements, he said, spell out the terms and conditions under which gas is supplied by the suppliers to the buyers.
“The suppliers always divert the available gas to other places, and from time to time, the government always face some constraints in the supply of gas to electricity producers, which is a big problem,” he said.
He said the Minister solicited on the GMD to assist in the supply of gas to power plants to allow for more sustainable power supply especially now that people are being locked down.
The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Chinedu Ugbo said during the meeting that NIPP and GenCos under the company’s operations would get the gas fund pay up.
He said the Calabar NIPP was the only plant with a standard gas supply agreement.
With the availability of gas during this period, he said electricity generation could be ramped up above 400 megawatts (MW) when every other plant was down.