The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that the Federal Government plans to generate 7,000MW of electricity over the next 18 months.
Osinbajo, who made the disclosure during the presentation of a book: “Nigeria: The Challenges of Growth and Development, an In-Depth Analysis by Experts,” at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan in Oyo State said power remained a major challenge facing the Federal Government but that the current administration was determined to resolve it.
According to the Vice President, the most important part of the 2016 budget would focus on ensuring that the restoration of power.
He said, “Early in the life of this administration, late last year and early this year, power generation was possibly at its best. Nigeria, for the first time was actually generating 5,000 megawatts, which was the first time it will happen in the history of the country.
“On February 14, the Forcados Export Terminal was blown off, effectively ensuring that 40 per cent of our gas that goes for power is no longer used for the purpose.
“This situation led to the immediate loss of 1,500 megawatts of power. It is our priority that the pipeline project is completed so that gas will be adequately supplied to the power plant.”
The Vice President pointed out that the major problem with power was that pipeline conveying gas to power plants were frequently being vandalised.
Noting that President Muhammadu Buhari had two weeks ago ordered the mobilisation of the military to protect pipelines in the country, the vice-president stressed that vandalism of pipeline would soon be a thing of the past.
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