The President made this promise
while inaugurating the Phase II 500mw Omotosho National Integrated Power
Project (NIPP) Plant in Ondo State.
He added that the Federal Government
was targeting 4,700mw from 10 NIPPs which he said would be completed before the
end of the first quarter of 2014.
According to him, the 10 NIPP
projects will be handed over to the private sector next year after completion
and inauguration.
He expressed optimism that the
private sector, which had invested $3 billion into the nation’s power sector,
would do what it did in the banking and the telecommunication sectors.
Jonathan implored workers of defunct
PHCN, who had yet to receive their entitlements and severance package, to be
patient, adding that they would be paid soon.
The President enjoined them not to go
on strike or do anything that could affect the government’s effort at ensuring
reasonable efficiency in the power sector.
Prior to his speech, Jonathan
directed that a minute’s silence be observed in honour of the late Gov.
Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State, during whose tenure as Minister of Power the
project started.
Gov. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state
commended the President for his commitment to the improvement of the power
sector.
He said the State Government
had also embarked on the building of 30mw NIPP at Omotosho area of the
state.
The governor said the project was
embarked upon pursuant to the government's commitment to industrial development
of the state
He added that the President would be
invited soon for the commissioning of the project.
Mimiko told the President that the
Omotossho power plant would have the desired impact only when the necessary
transmission was done.
He stated that the transmission
infrastructure needed to be built in three areas of the state.
Earlier, Minister of Power, Prof
Chinedu Nebo, directed that 32kva transmission lines be installed from Omotosho
through Ore to Ondo and Akure.
Nebo said the transmission line, when
completed, would relieve the Osogbo-Akure transmission line currently serving
the state.
He said the NIPP was contributing
1,600mw into the national grid.
The minister said the formal handover
of the defunct PHCN facilities to the investors would be done in the next two
weeks. (NAN)
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