The Federal Government on Monday said electricity generation in the country had reached 4,502 megawatts, the highest in recent time.
The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, made this known at a news conference on the achievement of the government in 2012, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
According to him, electricity generation is expected to move up to 7,000MW in 2013. Maku said, “At the moment, there is an average of about 15 to 18 hours per day of constant power supply to different parts of the country. This feat was brought about by the implementation of the integrated power sector reform programme anchored on the Power Roadmap.
“This includes institutional reforms to involve the private sector in power generation, transmission and distribution.”
The minister said under the road map, 10 new thermal power plants had been completed, adding that more would come on stream in 2013 to boost electricity supply to all parts of the country.
He said that the rehabilitation of power generation and distribution infrastructure across the nation was ongoing as well as the rehabilitation of the Kainji Hydro power station to generate power at installed capacity.
According to him, the contract for the maintenance of the Shiroro power station has been awarded.
Maku also said new contracts had been awarded for hydro power plants in Kaduna and Mambila Plateau to generate additional 750MW of electricity.
“The implementation of the National Integrated Power Project is being fast-tracked to ensure stability in power supply,” he said.
The minister said $1bn and $150m loans would soon be secured from the African Development Bank to finance gas supply and liberalisation of the power sector, respectively.