According to Joseph Tegbe, Minister of Power, within the next one to two months, the federal government will start replacing infrastructure throughout the national grid
During a TVC television programme on Monday, Tegbe made a statement.
“So in the next one or two months, we will commence infrastructure replacement across our grid…. President Tinubu is extremely supportive of what we are doing,” he said.
Given that some of the nation’s transmission lines had been in use for up to 50 years, the minister determined that transmission was the largest obstacle facing the power industry.
According to Tegbe, the ministry is carrying out a technical assessment of the electricity industry to determine which infrastructure needs to be replaced or repaired and to make sure that money is going to the appropriate places.
“I’m a systems person. So do a technical audit of the entire power sector. And today, we’ve gone about one month into the technical audit. We’ve seen some of the results,” he said.
The minister said the audit also identified faults at several facilities.
“There are places where it is towers that have issues. There are places where it’s insulators. There are places where it’s a conductor relay,” he said.
“What you don’t want to do is start spending money on insulators when you are meant to fix a conductor relay. Now we’re getting a clear picture.”
‘CONSTRAINTS IN GAS SUPPLY CHAIN LIMITING POWER SUPPLY’
Furthermore, Tegbe said Nigeria has sufficient gas to generate electricity, but constraints in the gas supply chain, including debts owed to electricity generation companies (GenCos), are limiting supply.
On November 5, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) attributed the lower power generation partly to limited gas availability and reduced water inflows into hydroelectric stations.
However, on November 7, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said its gas transportation network has no operational constraints responsible for the recent decline in electricity generation.
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Commenting on the conflicting positions, the minister said his priority is to give Nigerians access to electricity, asking both parties to forget the argument on whether gas is available or not and whether the grid is collapsing.
The minister said his role is to ensure all agencies work together.
“We have gas as a nation. However, sometimes, that liquidity issue becomes a constraint,” Tegbe said.
The minister dismissed concerns about gas availability, insisting that Nigeria has sufficient reserves to support power generation but faces constraints within the supply chain.
“There’s availability of gas for us as a nation. It’s a comparative advantage. However, within the gas supply chain, there are constraints,” he said.
The minister said one of the constraints is the inability of generating companies to purchase gas due to outstanding debts owed to them.
He put the debt at N3.3 trillion, adding that the federal government, with the support of President Bola Tinubu, had begun settling the outstanding obligations.
“In the last few months, we’ve paid down N1.23 trillion. We only have N2 trillion left. That N2 trillion, hopefully next year,” the minister said.
Tegbe also identified the age of some power plants as another challenge affecting electricity generation, noting that the government is replacing some of the ageing facilities with newer ones.
He said addressing the constraints across the gas supply chain and improving generation infrastructure would help strengthen power supply.
