Minister of power, Mr. Abubarkar Aliyu has said that the $250million intervention fund from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), will help in rehabilitating infrastructure and stabilizing power delivery nationwide.
The assurance at a media parley in Abia comes on the heels of the recent collapse of the national grid, and concerted effectors by stakeholders in resuscitating activities in the power sector in Nigeria.
Aliyu said the CBN intervention is taking care of the rehabilitation of critical interfaces infrastructure between both segments to increase and stabilize power delivery.
He explained that this is in addition to the Siemens Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) that will bring in additional $2.0 billion or more to the transmission grid from the government.
In total, the power minister said the federal government is expending almost $4billion to augment the grid, adding that much of the funds were being actively spent and the results will be felt soon.
He stressed that, all together, there are 135 ongoing projects, along with the interface projects being embarked upon by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), with 30 completed key substation projects and 12 transmission lines.
Also speaking during the media parley, the Market Operator (MO) at TCN, Mr. Edward Eje said the interface project was aimed at providing quick solutions at various transmission/distribution interfaces where there are challenges.
“This makes sense to me. It is a laudable measure to achieve a seamless and a hitch-free power transmission from the transmission stations to the distribution network,” said.
In his own comments, the managing director and chief executive officer of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company, (NBET) Dr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, explained that the apex bank was able to identify critical projects that could quickly address and restore normalcy to the sector in the near term.
“The CBN has actually performed a very positive role in trying to sort out these electricity market challenges. The CBN is working with TCN and the Discos. CBN basically asked, ‘what are those critical projects that if they are addressed today can quickly yield results in the sector?’.
“This is even as the federal government is doing the Siemens project and TCN is implementing the report. The issue is, that what are those critical projects that if they are done today, will unlock additional megawatts quickly.
“And so the DISCOs and TCN worked together to come up with a list of some critical projects and I can’t be specific on the amount, maybe we can furnish that subsequently but that is what is happening,” he said.
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