Federal ministries install solar systems as electricity supply worsens
Amid the increasing poor supply of electricity in Nigeria, two federal ministries – Works and Housing, and Environment and Lands – have installed solar systems.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, inaugurated the solar systems on Tuesday, saying that NGN270,945,000 will be saved from diesel consumption.
This is coming amidst the World Bank’s recent report that a total of 74 per cent of power users in Nigeria are dissatisfied with the supply of electricity across the country.
The bank, in its Power Sector Recovery Programme Opinion Research Fact Sheet, stated that while 93 per cent of metered power users paid their bills regularly, 78 per cent of electricity consumers in Nigeria received less than 12 hours of supply daily.
Other highlights of the reports include 93 per cent of consumers paid their electricity bills regularly whenever their units were exhausted, 58 per cent do not have a meter to measure electricity use, and
53 per cent do not receive adequate customer service from Discos (distribution companies) while 82 per cent are unaware of tariff band classifications.
On some of its key findings after the survey in its Opinion Research Fact Sheet, the World Bank stated that electricity supply was rated poorly by respondents.
“Respondents express high level of distrust with regards to government’s commitment to improving power supply,” part of the report read.
In May, the bank in its report on Nigeria Power Sector Recovery Programme said most poor households in Nigeria are not connected to the country’s electricity supply network as only 22 per cent of the poorest of them have access to grid power.
The PUNCH had reported in April 2021 that electricity generation in the country fell below the 4,000 megawatts mark after 11 plants were idle, even as several others suffered declines in the output.
As of April 11, the total power generation fell to 3,922.2MW from 4,394MW, according to data obtained from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator.
Eleven of the power plants on the national grid did not generate any megawatts of electricity.
The idle plants included six of those built under the National Integrated Power Project, namely Geregu II, Sapele II, Olorunsogo, Omotosho, Ihovbor, and Gbarain. The others were Afam IV&V, Ibom Power, AES, ASCO and Egbin ST6.
Delivering his keynote address during the inauguration on Tuesday, Fashola said the project employed 382 artisans and 176 skilled workers throughout its duration, in fulfilment of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of creating jobs.
He said, “It would see to the reduction of average diesel consumption from 764,248 litres per annum to 166,825 litres per annum and cost-saving of NGN270,945,000 over 20 years and contribute towards the reduction of government operational expenses and reduction of recurrent expenditure.
“It has led to the upgrade and retrofitting of our electrical appliances by replacing 400 old Air-conditioning units with 400 new inverter-based energy-efficient Air-conditioning units and replacing 2600 old light fittings with energy efficient LED ones all of which are energy-saving because they consume 40% less energy.
“With this investment we have built our own Mini-Grid, in consonance with our Administration’s policy to promote off grid option, thereby making more of the on-grid power available to ordinary Nigerians who cannot afford the cost of investing in off-grid power.”
PUNCH
