ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Federal Government has blamed the current poor power supply in the country on the activities of vandals and the on-going strike by labour unions in the oil and gas sector.
It said as at 12.00 noon Friday (today) UTOROGU, CHEVRON ORE DO, OB EN gas plants have all been shut down while UGHELI and CNL ESCRAVOS are all isolated already.
It also said the eastern axis Shell Gas, ALAKIRI has also been shut down, leading to the several power plants being stranded and shut down.
It warned that power supply which had started picking up steadily since the beginning of the week, following repairs of various vandalised portions of the ELP Line and the Trans-Forcados Gas Pipelines has fallen to all-time-unprecedented low of 1,327m as at 1pm on Friday, adding “this situation could get worse if the strike action continues”.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, said this to State House correspondents after joining the Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo, to brief Vice President Namadi Sambo on current power problem in the country.
Igali, who said prior to the current constraints the nation has been encountering, the government had generated between 4,800 megawatts at the beginning of the year with a potential to get up to 6,000 megawatts based on the available gas and hydros.
“Besides, pipeline vandalism which has continued to have very negative impact on the power supply situation in the country, the on-going strike by labour unions in the oil and gas sector has added additional toll. The current strike by both senior and junior staff unions of the NNPC, (NUPENG and PENGASSIN) has led to further reduction of the amount of gas available to most of our power plants especially in the western axis.
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“The Federal Ministry of Power hopes that the on-going discussion between the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation and, the labour unions, will end amicably and soonest to spare the country from such a major disruption of essential service. Indeed it is hoped the Labour Unions would help restore supply of gas to the power plants even while negotiation are on-going”, he said.
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