50 percent of Nigerians not connected to national grid

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, on Thursday said 50 per cent of Nigerians were not connected to the national grid.
The minister made this known in Abuja at a forum organised by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs.
The forum was aimed at highlighting Jonathan’s achievements.
Nebo said the administration had started the process of ensuring that all Nigerians were connected to the national grid in no distant time.
According to him, the Jonathan-led administration inherited a sector that was almost in total disarray.
“The entire nation was laden under the pains of inadequate, epileptic, suffocating electricity delivery’’, he said.
Nebo said that when the administration took over in 2009, electricity generation was 2 500mw as against the present capacity of over 3 400mw.
He said that Jonathan desired a power sector with sustainable growth and not just one with sporadic growth for Nigerians.
“In less than a few months’ time, Mr President will have doubled what he inherited with regard to power generation’’, Nebo said.
He said that gas was 70 per cent part of power generated in the country while hydro was 30 per cent.
The minister said that dependence on gas as the overall majority share was not quite sustainable, unless there was a mechanism to forestall the vandalism of energy infrastructure.

He said the president’s dogged commitment to the power sector had put the sector on a positive path.
Nebo said that government would soon declare the Transitional Electricity Market (TEM), which would open the door for free market.
Earlier, Dr Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs said that the forum was aimed at accessing Jonathan’s administration.
He said that the present administration had achieved such a milestone unreported in the media.
Okupe urged politicians to desist from engaging in 'evil politics’ aimed at pulling down the government of the day.
The Ministers of Aviation, Osita Chidoka and Sarah Ochekpe, Water Resources, also made presentations at the occasion.