Power Supply Worsens Under Buhari as 170m Nigerians now Share 1,970MW

Power generation under the administration President Muhammadu Buhari may have hit the worst low as only 1,970mw was generated as at Thursday.

This means the most populous black nation in earth with over N170m people share less than 2,000mw.

The figure shows a significant drop from the 3,100mw update provided less than a week ago by the Nigeria System Operator (NSO).

2017 has witnessed a disturbing three times system collapses with the recent one occurring on Wednesday.

DAILY POST gathered that the situation has been compounded by the huge debts owed for gas, just as recent attacks on gas facilities are limiting supply to the power plants.

Recall that in October, Nigeria had over 4,300mw.

Meanwhile, the federal government has ruled out any form of subsidy funding for the power sector as a way out for the prevailing liquidity crisis.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, spoke at the monthly Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja on Wednesday.

Fashola said government considered that the N213 billion Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Fund (NEMSF), which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was providing, was an adequate subsidy for the sector.

He said the facility, which was a low-interest loan with some moratorium, had been accessed by some operators already to upgrade their assets and services.

“Subsidy appears in different forms. When I resumed in this sector, I was made to understand there is an existing CBN fund for the market.

“The CBN fund comes at a low interest rate. If that does not qualify as subsidy, then I don’t know what else qualifies”, he added.

DAILY POST