Only 980,000 consumers benefitted from Phase 0 of FG’s meter scheme — NERC – Newstrends
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Only 980,000 consumers benefitted from Phase 0 of FG’s meter scheme — NERC

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3 years ago

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As many Nigerians clamour for pre-paid meters, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission says about 980,000 electricity consumers have so far been metered across the country, under the Phase Zero of the scheme.

This was contained in a Review of Power Sector in 2021 report published by the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday.

In the second phase of the scheme, which is billed to begin in the first quarter of 2022, NERC pointed out that about four million meters will be supplied strictly by local manufacturers.

The Chairman, Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company, Kola Balogun, revealed that the second phase could create 500,000 jobs for Nigerians through local manufacturing and installation of prepaid meters.

Balogun said: “The President Muhammadu Buhari administration must be commended for initiating the NMMP because there is an urgent need to bridge the metering gap in the power sector.

“I want to appreciate the government because the intervention that came to manufacturers under the phase zero was a huge success.

“It gave manufacturers the opportunity to have a tested process in place to know their capabilities and capacities and what they can give to the market.

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“The volume given to us was tested against the equipment, manpower and why we need to upscale further.”

Recall that in May 2021, the Federal Government announced that it was planning to sell five power Generation Companies to investors through the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

The bidding processes for the GenCos, which are part of the National Integrated Power Project, have already commenced.

Then, the NIPP projects being considered for sale were: Geregu Generation Company Limited with installed capacity at ISO condition of 506 Megawatt; Benin (Ihovbor) Generation Company Limited with 507 MW; and Calabar Generation Limited with 634MW.

Others were Omotosho Generation Limited, with 513MW; and Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited, with 754MW.

The National Coordinator, All Electricity Consumers Protection Forum, Adeola Samuel-Ilori, while sharing his views on the development, noted that while the BPE had directed that the bidders must not only have prior experience in power generation, the government must also ensure that they adhere to the requirements.

Samuel-Ilori said: “We don’t want it to be mere rhetorics as we have seen in the sales of critical national assets in the past; particularly in the same power sector.

“For us, as electricity consumer group, we can only support the selling of these power plants to investors that have both technical and financial competence.

“Anything short of that will not be good for the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry and will further put more electricity consumers in darkness.”

Perhaps in a move to revolutionize the transformation in the sector, President Muhammadu Buhari on September 1 in the first and last cabinet shake-up sacked the Minister of Power, Salleh Mamman,

He replaced him with Abubakar Aliyu, who until his appointment was Minister of State for Works.

Aliyu’s mandate includes ensuring that the Federal Government’s vision for the power sector, which is to improve access to electricity for all Nigerians in order to lift the country out of poverty, is achieved.

Since assumption of office, the Minister has held several engagements with stakeholders in the sector with a view to finding lasting solutions to its challenges.

Still, electricity consumer groups believe ensuring that the NERC adequately performs its statutory responsibilities should be a major focus of the new Minister.

The country plans to generate 30,000MW by 2030 with 3,000MW coming from renewable and 27,000MW from its power plants to serve its over 200 million people.

However, power generation still hovers just above 5,000 MW despite the 13,000MW installed capacity eight years after the sector was privatised.

From generation to transmission and distribution, Nigerians have continued to ask for more, in agitation to get good power supply.

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Aviation

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight 

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13 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight 

 

An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.

The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.

All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.

A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.

Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.

The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.

“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.

“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.

“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”

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Business

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

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14 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).

The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.

“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.

Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.

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He said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the Production War Room team was inaugurated on 25th June 2024, production was at 1.430mbpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into sustaining the production recovery to 1.7mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2mbpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who also congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.

He charged the Company’s Management to come up with a cashflow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3mbpd.

On his part, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team and pledged the Federal Government’s support for the company to do more.

 

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

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FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

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14 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

The Federal Government has secured a loan facility of $134million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.

This is contained in a statement issued by Anthonia Eremah, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on Thursday, in Abuja.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made his know at the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State capital.

Kyari explained that with the re-introduction of the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production, the loan would be handy and guarantee national food security in the country.

The minister said the initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.

He said the federal government had declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy access to quality and nutritional food at affordable rates.

Kyari also said government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increase in production of some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.

He added that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season.

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The minister said recently, government supported 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soyabean and cassava farmers under the 2024 wet season across the 37 States including the FCT.

He said Cross River was leading 16 other states in wheat production, adding that over 3000 wheat farmers have been listed to benefit from the support to grow the grain.

Kyari noted the Cross River government’s commitment to wheat production.

He said it informed why the federal government is partnering with the state to kick start the maiden wheat production and enlisting them among states commencing the current 2024/2025 dry season farming.

“The 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidised agricultural inputs.

“This is to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tonnes of wheat to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.

“Equally the programme will provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all the 37 states, including FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tonnes,” he said.

 

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

(NAN)

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