IT may have dawned on the Federal Government that its target of 6,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity by the end of this month is a mirage afterall.
Reason: Indication emerged yesterday that the Federal Government has identified alleged failure of oil multinationals to supply gas to some power plants in the country as the reason it could fail to meet the electricity generation mark.
Consequently, the government has resolved to sanction the oil firms involved if the power target is not achieved at the end of the month.
Sources in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources disclosed to The Guardian yesterday that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Odein Ajumogobia, had summoned a meeting last week of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Mohammed Barkindo; Minister of State for Power, Rilwan Babalola and representatives of the multinational firms on the presidential target, where he charged them to expedite action on gas supply to the plants.
The closed-door meeting, according to the sources, discussed the power sector, with the minister, stressing the imperative of achieving the presidential power target.
Ajumogobia was quoted as saying that there was no going back on the deadline, insisting that government agencies and the oil firms should work on meeting it.
The minister told the meeting that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was keen on the date, stressing that the 6,000mw power target is one of the top priorities of the current administration.
According to a source, Ajumogobia said Vice President Goodluck Jonathan had told him that the President was worried over current gas shortage, adding that the President, in spite of being away in Saudi Arabia, monitors events at home.
Ajumogobia insisted that all hands must be on deck to achieve the power target, saying failure to do so would deal a huge blow on the current administration’s seven-point agenda.
Babalola complained that gas availability has been the bane of the power target.
According to him, the Power Ministry has put in place machinery to achieve the target, noting that the facilities on ground at the power stations in the country were enough to achieve the presidential target but for gas availability from the oil companies.
It was also learnt that the nation’s power generation output has dropped to 2,658mw from 3,000mw recorded some few days ago.
Sources at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) told The Guardian that the required volume of gas needed to power the power stations was not forthcoming from the oil majors – Shell and Chevron – who are the largest suppliers of gas to the power plants.
According to the sources, the Egbin Thermal Station and the AES are currently hamstrung by inadequate gas supply, hence the drop in power generation.
The sources added that the generating capacity of the nation’s 10 power plants had dropped drastically because the ones at Geregu, Omotosho and Olorunsogo have been shutdown for lack of gas.
One of the sources said the PHCN would need about 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas daily to achieve the power target, noting that only half of the required gas was being received.
He doubted that the government would meet the power target by the end of the month.
The source said that Nigeria’s quest for stable power supply would remain a pipedream unless concrete efforts were put in place to save the power sector from collapse.
A source in the Ministry of Power said besides Okpai Power Station, which was commissioned two years ago and currently operating at 90 per cent capacity, the nine other power plants were operating at 30 per cent installed capacity.
Egbin Station, commissioned in 1985 with the capacity to generate 1,320mw, had dropped to about 500mw, while Delta Power Station, which was built in 1966 with an initial installed capacity of 72mw and raised to 918mw in 1990, had dropped to 480mw.
According to the source, Sapele Power Station, built in 1981 with an installed capacity of 1,020mw, now generates only 150mw, while Afam plant, which generated 972mw in 2001, had plunged to 410 mw.
He added that the Kainji Power Station with installed capacity of 760mw had dropped to 450mw.