The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said that given the various plans by the present administration in the sector, power generation would increase by an additional 2,000 megawatts by the last quarter of 2016.
Fashola stated this at the ministry’s budget defence before the Senate Committee on Power and Mines on Tuesday. He added that a lot has changed in the management of power in the country in recent times.
“Distribution of Power is no longer government business, but has been taken over by private companies,” he said.
“Also, government has privatised power generation which has steered towards the full privatisation of the sector with transmission aspect being managed by Manitoba International of Canada.”
According to the Minister, the 2016 budget focuses more on the transmission, completion of ongoing projects, refurbishing power plants and tackling gas supply issues. He added that that if all the plans were well addressed, the expected projection would boost electricity generation in the country.
Fashola further stated that the ministry plans to take its role as a policy maker more seriously while the agencies would be tasked more on implementation and execution of government’s agenda for the sector.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator James Manager, charged the ministry to think out of the box if it must achieve its goals of taking Nigeria’s power sector to the next level.
