2 hours ago
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…no billing for customers in blackout, says Adelabu
…as FG plans decentralization of national grid
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and heads of other security agencies in the country to provide security cover for contractors engaged by the Ministry of Power to fix the vandalized Shiroro-Kaduna Transmission lines.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu who fielded questions from the State House Correspondents after a meeting with the President at the State House on Monday.
About seventeen states in the northern part of the country are currently in darkness due to the vandalized transmission lines that the Ministry has found difficult to fix due to the security situation in the area.
The Minister said the timeline for fixing the transmission line was between three to five days. stressing”That is where we work under Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP): when there are no security threats, when you are sure of your safety in the area.
“Why it has escalated to this level is because we’ve not been able to guarantee the security of the lives of those who will work there. But Mr President has assured me that he has also instructed the NSA, the Chief of Defense Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, to provide the required security for the people that will fix the demolished line.
With the provision of full security, the TCN staff will have the confidence, together with the contractors, to go to the field and fix it. So I’m just appealing to our northern brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, to bear with us that very soon, light will be restored, and we must all collectively protect our national grid to avoid further vandalisation.”
Asked whether there were plans to compensate customers who have been plunged into darkness as the government work on restoration of electricity, especially those on Band A, the Minister said “Yes, what we are working on like I’m going to have a meeting with the chairman of NERC, and all the DISCOs, for those days during which they suffered blackout there should not be billing of any sort, for any customer, be it household, customer or the office consumer or industrial consumer, they will be immune for billing for those periods.”
Apart from supplies of electricity from the Shiroro facility to the north, the minister said the government was exploring the possibility of providing power through the Ikot Ekpene substation supplied by the Calabar plant.
Recalling that the ministry already had the Federal Executive Council (FEC) nod to upgrade the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission line, Adelabu noted that “the world is moving.
“This is the 21st century, and we believe that the most effective way of supplying uninterrupted, functional, stable and reliable electricity to the northern part of Nigeria is through our distribution power model, whereby each of the northern states will have an embedded utility, solar scale, and solar source.
“All the 20 states will be insulated and immune from each other. We have actually made progress in this as we have interested contractors and financiers that are ready to install 100 megawatts each for each of the 20 northern states, which is scalable to 50 megawatts at first, then upgraded to 100 megawatts.
When we have this, the power supply to the North will be reliable because of the advantage of sun that they have, where solar will be highly effective.”
Commenting on the constant collapse of the national grid, Adelabu said “Let me tell you, the truth of the matter is, we have old infrastructure. We have a national grid that is more than 50 years old.
“We have a national grid whose transmission lines are weak, the towers are failing and the substations, the transformers are old. In fact, the transformer that actually exploded in Jebba was 47 years old. We’ve been trying to revamp this to change them, but they cannot all be changed overnight
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