Expect stable power supply by mid 2014 – Jonathan

 

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday promised reasonably stable power supply in the country by the middle of 2014.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the President made this promise while inaugurating the Phase II 500mw Omotosho National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) Plant in Ondo State.
He added that the Federal Government was targeting 4,700MW from 10 NIPPs which are expected to be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2014.
According to him, the 10 NIPP projects would be handed over to the private sector next year after completion and inauguration.


He expressed optimism that the private sector, which had invested $3 billion into the nation’s power sector, would do what it did in the banking and the telecommunication sectors.
Jonathan implored workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, who had yet to receive their entitlements and severance package, to be patient, adding that they would be paid soon.
The President enjoined them not to go on strike or do anything that could affect the government’s effort at ensuring reasonable efficiency in the power sector.
Prior to his speech, Jonathan directed that a minute’s silence be observed in honour of the late Governor Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State, during whose tenure as Minister of Power the project started.
Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state commended the President for his commitment to the improvement of the power sector.
He said the state government had also embarked on the building of 30MW NIPP in the Omotosho area of the state.