President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday commissioned the 220 MegaWatts capacity plants belonging to Egbin Generation company Plc, Lagos, with a promise that of stable power supply in near future.
Power has been one of the intractable problem of the country, which saw the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo funneling over $16 billion to the sector with little to show for it.
Jonathan in his previous campaign promised to tackle the problem, but the power challenge remains not for lack of trying.
“Since I launched Power Roadmap in 2010, I have been encouraged with the progress so far. Very soon, the issue of poor power supply will be over,” Jonathan said while commissioning the Egbin project.
The president has not lost sense of the fact that the power is fundament al economic development. He believes that the rising power profile in the country would help boost economic activities in the country.
He said, “We are not going backward, we must stabilise power supply. That is why we are happy that Egbin power plant is operating at full capacity of 1320 MW with the restoration of Unit 06 which has been moribund for the past eight years.
“Moreover, the plan to expand the capacity by 50 per cent in the next four years by the management will also expand the lifespan of the power plant by another 20 years.
“We are committed to irreversible development of the power sector. We are going ahead to improve the energy mix because we cannot be the largest economy in Africa without stable power,” he stated.
In his address, Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, emphasised that privatisation of the power sector has resulted in the employment of over 2000 engineers.
“Over 2000 engineers have been hired since private investors took over. 16 years before President Jonathan came to office, no single engineer was employed. The sector he inherited was dilapidated.
“Within few years of taking over, you (Jonathan) have also revived the National Independent Power Plants (NIPPs). We celebrate with you,” he stated.
Chairman of Egbin Generation Company, Kola Adesina, in his remarks stated that his company had invested over N50 billion so far to bring the power company to full capacity.
