By NAN

The Federal Ministry of Power says it is focused on increasing the power supply in the country to boost economic activities and meet the demands of other consumers.

The Minister of Power, Mr. Saleh Mamman, said this in his keynote address at the National Policy and Development Summit in Abuja on Tuesday.

The summit was organized by Mr. Ibrahim Hassan, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Policy, Development, and Analysis, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

The theme of the summit is:  “The Power Sector Unending Challenges: New Perspective”.

The minister said that the Federal Government and other investors in the sector were focused on the increasing power supply to consumers.

“Out of 1.2 billion people that lack electricity in the world, about 600 million of them are located in the Sub-Saharan region of West Africa. However, electrification in Nigeria is increasing.

“The current Solar Naija Power Project will provide over five million people with power. However, we understand that more can still be done.

“The ministry is promoting partnership with rural communities, Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN), and others to provide power for those that need it most at the rural level.

“Execution and completion of the legacy project have been reassessed to ensure timely delivery.  We have the Mambilla Power Project,  Dadin Kowa, and many others that are nearing completion,” Mamman said.

The minister said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had achieved a lot in the power sector.

According to him, the country has sustained 115,000 hours of power supply in September 2020 which he says is the highest in the history of the country.

“And in January, we had another wonderful achievement on the power supply. These are indicators of our frantic efforts in the sector.

“We are also bringing remarkable more power to the grid from most parts of the country where power projects are being executed into the national grid,” he said.

On the issue of electricity tariff, Mamman stressed that tariff could only be increased on service improvement, adding that poor Nigerians would not be burdened with an increase in tariffs.

He said a lot of power projects were also being carried out in some tertiary institutions across the country.

“114 projects have been approved and will be completed soon. We also have the solar project where CBN will provide funds to private investors to connect 100,000  homes and create employment.

“However, the metering project is still undergoing implementation. We have recorded about 64 percent success,” he said. (NAN)