Stable Electricity: Yet Another Promise From Jonathan

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Nigerian electricity has been a shambolic brand and this has provided a suitable unique selling point for political campaigns since 1999. The current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has given more attention to fixing electricity more than any other administration, yet the dividends are way below the acclaimed investment. With his administration failing to meet recent promises, the president has now set an ultimatum to managers of Nigeria’s electricity sector, especially the Ministry of Power to as a matter of urgency ensure that the electricity generated is effectively transmitted and distributed across Nigeria within the next six months.

Disclosing the president’s directive to stakeholders in the power sector, Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, stated that the president had asked that results of government’s reforms in the power sector must become palpable to Nigerians across the country by June this year. “The resolution of the problem of inadequate power supply to our people has continued to receive the full attention and support of President Goodluck Jonathan. While we celebrate the unprecedented success so far recorded in the reform of the power sector, the yardstick by which consumers measure us is the availability of electricity at the last mile to our homes and businesses,” he said.

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“I wish therefore to charge all the principal players here today to be committed to ensuring that power supply to our customers is significantly and visibly improved by June this year as already directed by Mr. President. The significant investment of the federal government in both material and human resources must translate into improved service delivery during the year.

“Government will no longer tolerate any excuse of non-performance from any of the sector players from both the ministry particularly and our new private sector partners. We are in a paradigm shift now and it is no longer going to be business as usual, but business unusual.”

Nigeria currently transmits less than 4,000MW despite having a total installed generation capacity of 6,976.40 megawatts (MW).