The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has urged the youths in the Niger Delta region to embrace peace and protect oil and gas installations from continued vandalism.
The minister made the assertion on Tuesday during the commissioning of a 115 megawatts Gas Turbine 15 (GT 15) at Transcorp Power Company, Ughelli, Delta State.
Fashola stated that power generation was affected whenever there was an attack on oil and gas facilities.
The commissioning of the 115 mega watts Gas Turbine according Fashola was another major boost in the ongoing drive by the present administration to increase power generation in the country.
Fashola stated that President Muhammadu Buhari was determined to support local investors in the power sector as they were more dependable investors the federal government could partner with towards making electricity available to expectant Nigerians.
“While we are looking for foreign investors, the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration understands that the local investor is the most dependable investor.
“The local investor is not going to run when the ship hits stormy waters and it is their continuity and commitment to continue to invest that really dignifies the Nigerian economy.
“To the Transcorp groups and other local investors, the Buhari administration heard you loud and clear. We are dealing with the challenges of solving the issues that you face one after the other. One of them as you have referred to is the payment assurance scheme that has now been put in place.
“The power that you now produce will be paid for every day you put it on the grid. That is what that funding is for. You have acknowledged the appointment of a new managing director, TCN; it is because we know that when you produce the power unless we want to lose it, it must quickly transport it and that’s the reason TCN is being reformed.
“We understand also that you need a lot of collaboration down the line until we get to the DISCOs. That is why NEC has been reconstituted, a new government framework to ensure that everybody discharges their obligation and play by the rules”.
Delta State Governor, Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa commended the initiative, saying that the state would continue to create the enabling environment for investors to grow their businesses.
Governor Okowa lamented the poor power distribution in the country and stated that not until Nigerians see electricity in their homes, whatever efforts the federal government and investors were makin would not be appreciated by the people since the power was not in their homes.
“I believe that there is hope around the corner but, there should be more collaboration for the power generated to get to our homes.
“We need to look into that section where the power generated gets to the people, because, no matter the amount of power you generate and it does not get to the masses, there will be issues”, he said.
The Chairman of Transcorp Group, Mr Tony Elumelu, stated that Transcorp Power Ughelli had steadily grown its power generation from the 160MW capacity inherited when it bought Ughelli Power in 2013 to 620MW as of today.
“Power remains close to our hearts and we want to do more in this sector. We want government to assist us to help Nigerians.
“The two issues I will want to talk about is liquidity and the minister I believe is working on it. Please help us fast-track it so that the monies will come in so that it will address some of the money being owed the sector.
“The new Gas Turbine 15 (115 MW) also comes with 33 per cent simple cycle efficiency and with the successful commissioning and synchronizing of the turbine to the national grid, it has increased the available capacity of our plant from 160 MW (at the time of takeover on November 1, 2013) to 620MW and our corporate goal is to increase our available capacity to 850 MW before the end of the year”, Elumelu said.
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