*Abubakar Aliyu, Minister for Power, blamed gas supply shortage for the West African country’s inability to generate about 5,000 megawatts of electricity

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

As the crisis besetting the critical electricity industry in Nigeria deepens with the current workers’ indefinite strike, Abubakar Aliyu, Honourable Minister for Power, has blamed gas supply shortage for the country’s inability to generate up to 5,000 megawatts of electricity.

Aliyu disclosed this development Wednesday, August 17, 2022, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, FCT.

It is recalled the Ministry of Power recently promised that the country’s power generation would reach 5,000MW.

The drop in power generation

Aliyu also stated: “Regarding the drop of electricity, yes, you know, the supply has so many players, gas, the cost that drops, issues of gas to some power plants.

“They cannot switch on their plants if they do you will experience some drop once they switch on, the electricity will increase.”

The Minister further explained: “There may be a drop due to the fault of the generator and the electricity may drop. It’s mostly generation.

“I’ve been watching since like yesterday (Tuesday) evening, we had a generation of around 4,600 megawatts.

“And you know, we told you since 1st July, that we’ll be able to raise it to 5,000 when we activated the contract.”

He said: “And we have not been able to do so, due to some issues around gas contracts, gas to power, which we are trying to take care of.

“And we have gone very far with that, and I believe, is for that reason that we’re able to reach up to 4,600 as of yesterday.”

According to him, electricity consumers “will be experiencing this fluctuation due to all these issues around gas to power because gas it is not something that we control directly.

“You have to pay them; they will not give you gas until you pay. So, we are looking at ways to solve that issue.

“It is the reason we are unable to reach that 5,000 we promised you by July 1 of this year.

Aliyu as well noted: “But as you will see from that date, July 1st, we have been around 4,000 megawatts since then.

“Even if you experience a drop, it may not be like throughout the day, you will see by evening it will rise again, just like I saw 4,600 megawatts yesterday evening.

“So, this is the situation. We’re working around the clock to ensure that we raised the capacity to the required level.”

Decrying the situation, the Minister added despite the government’s signing of a contract with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, the “necessary ingredient has been obtained to resolve the problem.”