Following the recent incidents of vandalism which have affected power supply in Nigeria, the Federal Executive Council has approved power shoring projects for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), worth billions of naira, in the south and in the North.
This was disclosed by Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister said the projects will boost the capacity of TCN and also respond more efficiently to vandalized assets, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
What the minister is saying
The Minister stated that said that the projects were aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and shore up power supply in the country.
- He said, “I presented two memos to the council which has approved; “the first memo council approved the award of contract for design, supply and installation of 1x60MBA, 132×33 KV transmission substation with associated 4×132 KV line bay extension at Hong Local Government in Adamawa in the sum of N6.5 billion, consisting of two components. One is offshore and onshore.
- “The offshore is 6.9 million dollars and the onshore is N3.3 billion at the CBN prevailing exchange rate and 7.5% VAT; the delivery period is 24 months.”
He added that it will raise the capacity of the supply around that area and it’s going to affect so many towns and villages.
- “It is going to affect Song which is a Local Government headquarters in Adamawa state; Gombi is also another Local Government headquarters; Garkida town and then Hong.
- “Then Mubi, Woba, Michika, Madagali. There is an existing 132 that passes through this area; so, what we’re doing now is to drop a substation there.
- “The hope is by the time all these interventions we are making on the grid, reaches up to 11,000 or thereabout, it will be able to withstand and take it off; so, this is the intervention,” he said.
On the second memo, he revealed that it is to procure power transformers and associated spare parts for TCN to be deployed to six locations.
- “One is to Aiyede in Oyo; Offshore component 1.8 billion dollars, the onshore is N98 million.
- `The second one is Gusau in Zamfara; the third one is Kankia in Katsina State; the next one is Minna, Niger; then the fifth one is to Okearo in Ogun.
- “The sixth one is in Damaturu, Yobe; this one is very peculiar because as you may be aware, for over one year, Maiduguri has not been enjoying full electricity,” he said.
On electricity supply to troubled areas due to insecurity, he said the TCN was able to take electricity supply through an old line of 33KV which they repaired and restored and were able to take 10 megawatts to Maiduguri over 130 kilometres on a 33 single circuit.
- “We are currently procuring another 33 double circuit new one to Maiduguri along the same route.
- “The idea is if someone tampers with it, it is easy to restore it within a day or two, unlike the bigger one which is the 330 which takes weeks or months to restore because it’s in the bush.
- “So, as it is now even the one that we have installed, we have been doing hide and seek, sometimes they will pull one-two poles, we will repair and this is why we are doing this endeavour by the roadside; it is this to keep on restoring back,” he added.
In case you missed it
- Nairametrics reported this week that Nigeria’s electricity generation peaked at 3,629.5MW on Sunday, 26th June 2022, representing a 2.6% decline compared to a peak of 3,725.1MW recorded in the previous day. This is according to information from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
