C’ttee Plans 24-Hour Power Supply to Abuja, PH

Thisday Newspapers 06.01.2010

The Presidential Action Committee on Power sector development has recommended a staggered electricity supply system which will have cities like Abuja, Aba, Port Harcourt and Uyo with stranded generation enjoy 24-hour non-stop electricity supply.
In what seemed like a major shift in the existing load-shedding system being applied by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the Committee in its preliminary report submitted to government said under the plan there would be assurance of 16-hour electricity availability in other regional industrial and commercial hubs like Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Ibadan, Onitsha and Nnewi within the next three to six months if the plan scales through.

In the same vein, State capitals, urban and semi-urban residences are also to have 18-hour non-stop electricity availability while about 12-hour electricity would be available to remote locations negatively impacted by transmission by Maiduguri, Kastina and Sokoto. Cities with stranded generation capacities like Abuja, Port Harcourt, Aba and Uyo are to enjoy 24-hour electricity within three to six months according to the plans by the Presidential Action Committee on Power.
State capitals, urban and semi-urban residences are also to have 18-hour electricity availability while about 12-hour electricity would be available to remote locations negatively impacted by transmission by Maiduguri, Kastina and Sokoto.

The committee also suggested that rural communities connected to the grid would get 12-hour electricity availability, adding that it plans to within three to six months fast track improvement and predictability in electricity availability to Nigerian homes and businesses.

In the report which has since been forwarded to President Goodluck Jonathan, the committee said it also has plans to within three to twelve months take irreversible steps to promote medium to long term sustainable growth of the Nigerian electricity supply industry.

According to the committee, the new initiative is aimed at realising the President's target of improved electricity supply to Nigerians.

It said the directive to improve electricity availability to Nigerian homes and business within a short time frame given to members of the Presidential Action Committee on Power is being taken to mean fast tracking improvement and predictability in electricity availability to Nigerian homes and business within three to six months.