Minister says power transmission hits 5,500 MW, Reps want DISCOs sanctioned

Engineer Saleh Mamman: Paints a ridiculous picture of how Nigeria loses big in the power sector

Engineer Saleh Mamman: Minister of Power

Engineer Saleh Mamman: Minister of Power
By EricJames Ochigbo/Abuja

Nigeria’s installed power generation capacity has grown from 8,000MW to 13,000MW and evacuation from 4,500 to 5,500MW in the last five years.

Saleh Mamman, minister of power, made this known on Wednesday during the 2021 budget defence before the House of Representatives Committee on Power in Abuja.

But his report did not impress members of the committee.

They expressed displeasure with the minister for being soft on Distribution Companies (DisCos) over their “gross irresponsibility and wickedness in the execution of their contract”.

The Chairman of the committee, Aliyu Magaji (APC-Jigawa), asked the minister to mete out stiffer sanctions to the DisCos, to enable them to sit up and provide the desired services to Nigerian people.

Magaji said that if the minister sanctioned the DisCos, he would become the darling of lawmakers and the entire Nigerians.

The chairman informed the minister that as far as the House was concerned, the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) was still under the purview of his committee.

The rep said that the purported transfer of the parastatal to the Ministry of Finance was unacceptable to the legislators.

Members of the committee raised concern about power supply to their various constituencies, urging the minister to ensure supply.

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