Headline

Prepare To Receive, Distribute 6,100MW Of Electricity In 6 Months, FG To Discos

Published

4 weeks ago

March 24, 2024

The federal government has charged all the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) in the country to be ready to receive and distribute not less than 6,100 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the next six months.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who stated this, also announced the government’s plan to secure funding ranging from N250 billion to N300 billion to close the over seven million metering gap in the country on an annual basis over the next four to five years.

He explained that the government intended to raise that fund through a N75-billion seed capital to be provided by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, along with additional debt capital injections from the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).Adelabu revealed these at the weekend when he visited Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) in Lagos and the Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company Limited (MEMMCOL) in Ogun State.

He revealed that a bill for legislation to replicate local content law in the power sector was underway.Speaking at the Eko Disco office, Adelabu said the charge to the Discos to be prepared to uptake 6,100MW became necessary after the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) successfully conducted system stress tests, where it demonstrated its ability to transmit over 8,100MW, alongside the proposed plans for a partial Sovereign Risk Guarantee (SRG) to enhance generation companies’ (Gencos) capacity.

With Eko and Ikeja Discos having exceeded a specified threshold through improved collection efficiency and service quality, Adelabu said he had unveiled a strategic plan to utilise the two Discos as model Discos to pilot test the anticipated effective supply to be implemented sector-wide in the next few months.He said the two Discos would serve as a standard for emulation by others.

However, at the MEMMCOL meter plant in Ogun, Adelabu also stated that in line with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the government was targeting to provide about 2.5 million prepaid meters every year to close the nation’s metering gap.This, he said, would help the government in the promotion of import substitution policy of locally-made products in the power sector and encourage backward integration in the areas of technical training.

He equally expressed the current administration’s commitment to support local original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by working on a bill that would promote local content for the power sector.“We have a Presidential Metering Initiative that has the target of installing a minimum of two million to 2.5 million meters every year for the next five years, for us to close the huge metering gap that we currently have in the power sector.

“Even if we cannot close it 100 per cent as there will be new connections, we have to reduce it significantly and the government cannot do it alone. We have to do it jointly with all parties because we all contributed to the decay in the sector and we must also contribute to reversing the decay”, the minister stated.He maintained that the initiatives would encourage investors to risk their equity and debt capital to establish local industries.

“In the power sector, it is our choice to have significant local content in our projects and our contracts. We are trying to work on a bill now that will legislate local content for the power sector just like we have in our oil and gas. That is the only way we can sustain local producers. So, that is the reason I am here.”In his earlier briefings to the minister, the Chairman of MEMMCOL, Mr. Kola Balogun, thanked Adelabu for the courage and commitment he had shown so far to reverse the ugly trends in the power sector. Balogun, however, noted that the demand for prepaid meters in Nigeria surpasses the volume of other countries in Africa, noting that local patronage was still needed for them to meet the investment threshold.

Headline

Fagbemi warns against obstructing EFCC from performing its lawful duty

Published

3 days ago

April 18, 2024

Fellow Press

The Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN has warned against obstructing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from carrying out its lawful duty .

Fagbemi’s warning is contained in a statement in Abuja.

“This is a matter of very grave concern, it is now beyond doubt that the EFCC is given power by the law to invite any person of interest to interact with them in the course of their investigations into any matter, regardless of status.

“Therefore, the least that we can all do when invited, is not to put any obstruction in the way of EFCC, but to honourably answer their invitation.

“A situation where public officials who are themselves subject of protection by law enforcement agents will set up a stratagem of obstruction to the civil and commendable efforts of the EFCC to perform its duty is to say the least, insufferably disquieting’’.

He added that running away from the law will not resolve issues at stake but only exacerbate them.

“Nigeria has a vibrant judicial system that is capable of protecting everyone who follows the rule of law in seeking protection.

“I therefore encourage anyone who has been invited by the EFCC or any other agency to immediately toe the path of decency and civility by honouring such invitation instead of embarking on a temporising self-help and escapism.

“This can only put our country in bad light before the rest of the world’’.

He said institutions of state should be allowed to function effectively and efficiently.

“I stand for the rule of law and will promptly call EFCC, and indeed any other agency to order when there is an indication of any transgressions of the fundamental rights of any Nigerian by any of the agencies’’.

NAN reports that the EFCC had on Wednesday warned members of the public that it was a criminal offence to obstruct officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties.

Section 38(2)(a(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act makes it an offence to prevent officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties. Culprits risk a jail term of not less than five years.

The warning , the EFCC said, became necessary against the background of the increasing tendency by persons and groups under investigation by the Commission to take the laws into their hands by recruiting thugs to obstruct lawful operations of the EFCC.

On several occasions, the anti graft agency said, operatives of the Commission have had to exercise utmost restraint in the face of such provocation to avoid a breakdown of law and order.

Headline

Unknown Gunmen Abduct Channelstv Reporter In Port-harcourt

Published

1 week ago

April 12, 2024

Ifunaya Emeka

Some unknown gunmen have kidnapped Joshua Rogers, the ChannelsTV reporter in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Politics Nigeria learnt that Rogers was picked up close to his residence at Rumuosi in Port Harcourt and to an unknown destination by the gunmen around 9pm on Thursday, April 11.

The reporter was driving his official ChannelsTV branded car when the hoodlums accosted, pointed a gun at him and took him away in the same vehicle.

Rogers was said to be returning from his official assignment in Government House after a trip to Andoni for a government event when the incident happened.

Already, the gunmen were said to have contacted his wife and demanded a N30million ransom for bis release.

His cameraman confirmed the incident and appealed to his abductors to set him free unconditionally.