Guardian

THE Presidency said yesterday that the country’s installed capacity in the electricity sector was 6,300 megawatts and would soon outpace the current 4,517 megawatts peak it achieved last week.

It also reiterated its dedication to seeing the electricity reform programme through, assuring that it was on course to handling key aspects of the nation’s electricity industry over to private concerns.

The presidency also said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan was on point when he declared at a recent media chat that the nation’s generation capacity was 5,000 megawatts.

The capacity, the Presidential Task Force on Power said in statement, had since stepped up to 6,300 megawatts due to the various maintenance works and added capacity in the sector.

Chairman of the PTFP, Reynold Dagogo-Jack recalled that at a news briefing, President Goodluck Jonathan made mention of the 5,000 megawatts generation profile achieved and immediately went on to clarify that owing to transmission constraints, not all of it could be evacuated for then.

“It is important to note that since that interview, we have achieved over 6,300 megawatts in available generation and have hit a peak of 4,517 megawatts in evacuated power,” he said.

Dagogo-Jack described a newspaper report as “a mischievous misinterpretation” of what President Jonathan said. “For clarification and confirmation of the facts as stated by the president, our average generation profile (this signifies the power that can be generated and made available on a given day) is well over 5,000 MW while the average evacuated power profile (this signifies power actually evacuated to consumers on any given day) is approximately 4,400 MW. Now, both these figures were well below 3,000 MW in 2010 when the president came into office.”

He assured of Jonathan’s strong commitment to the power sector, stressing that the sector had continued to witness significant improvement since last year.

“The truth of significant improvement in power supply since 2010 is not a hidden fact. The truth of the progress made since 2010 in transiting our near moribund power industry into a private sector driven and fully regulated market is not a hidden fact. That it is President Goodluck’s political will and close marking, which have brought about this ongoing progress is also not a hidden fact. Calling the president baseless names won’t change any of these facts but will only serve to divert attention from the facts,” he said.