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China-Africa Trade Information Service
http://info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
The electricity generation has dropped down for two weeks, averaging 3,400MW despite the fact that the Niger Delta militants have ceased to attack gas pipelines in recent months, revealed a local newspaper. Power generation had hit an all-time high of 5,074megawatts on February 2, 2016 before the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and other militant groups launched fresh attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta, which disrupted gas supply to power generating plants.
After the militant groups restarted attacks on gas facilities, the erratic power supply in the country was blamed on the activities of the militants. However, with the Federal Government’s fresh initiatives led by the Vice President and the Minister of State for Petroleum to engage the relevant stakeholders in the oil-rich region, the militants have since declared a ceasefire. With the poor generation in the past two weeks, electricity supply, which averaged 4,400MW four weeks ago, hovers around 3,400MW since the past two weeks, despite the relative calm in the Niger Delta.
But the electricity distribution companies under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) argued that the N701 billion fund has the potential to worsen revenue shortfalls bedeviling the power sector. The Executive Director in charge of Research and Advocacy, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, had described the fund as just a partial solution to the liquidity challenges of the sector.
“However, as commendable as this intervention is, we believe that it is a partial solution to the liquidity challenges of the sector. More so, as it holds the potential for exacerbating the revenue shortfalls that the market is now suffering from. While an increase in electricity supply is the desired objective of everyone, such an increase without the requisite full recovery of cost via the appropriate pricing of power, means a resultant worsening of the market revenue gap,” Oduntan reportedly explained.
