By Ikenna Omeje

The Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman, has apologized to Nigerians for the current power outages being experienced in many parts of the country.

Mamman said that the problem is caused by the breakdown of some National Integrated Power Plants (NIPPs) supplying electricity to the national grid. He listed Sapele, Afam, Olonrunsogo, Omotosho, Ibom, Egbin, Alaoji and Ihovbor, as the affected plants, adding that the Jebba Power Plant was shut down for annual maintenance.

The Minister also informed that Geregu, Sepele, Omotosho, Gbarain, Omuku, Paras and Alaoji are experiencing gas constraints while the Shiroro plant has water management problems.

In the last couple of  weeks, some distribution companies announced load shedding from partners, while average energy constraints for the first quarter stood at 1,897MW, as against the average current capacity of between 3,500MW to over 5,000MW. A total of 5,452.96 megawatts of electricity was rejected by power Distribution Companies (DisCos) in one week causing blackout in various locations across the country.

“This unfortunate development has drastically affected Power generation, thus effectively minimizing the national grid. In view of this, The Hon. Minister of Power Engr. Engr Sale Mamman, regrets this unfortunate situation and offers his sincere apology to all affected Nigerians on the inconveniences the Power shortages are causing. He assures that the ministry through the appropriate Agencies is working assiduously to rectify the technical problems affecting the plants as well as resolving the gas issues to the others. Engr. Sale Mamman further assures that the national grid will be restored to its previous historic distribution peak of about

“5,600MW of electricity achieved early this year, so as to relief Nigerians from the current harsh climatic conditions and restore full economic activities,” a statement by the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Aaron Artimas, said on Tuesday.