The Federal Government has recorded an all-time high 5,155 megawatt, MW, electricity generation and supply through the national grid as at December 8, 2017. The figure reported was 5,074 MW.
Babatunde Fashola, minister of Power, Works and Housing, said the latest figure was a major milestone in the Federal Government’s journey of incremental power.
Speaking at the 22nd stakeholders’ meeting for operators in the Nigerian power sector on Monday, he said, “I am happy to report that last month, reports and feedback confirmed that we had surpassed not only our peak of grid supply during the rains, but we have also surpassed Nigeria’s highest ever peak grid supply.
“As of Tuesday 5th of December 2017, the peak supply reached 5,019MW, which was below the 5,074MW we achieved in January 2016. However, on Friday, 8th December, 2017, grid supplied power peaked at an all-time high of 5,155MW, over the January 2016 figure of 5,074MW.”
The minister stated that, “It is a major milestone in our journey of incremental power and if we keep our feet on the ground and we remain focused and unexcited, we will improve on it, and hopefully get to the second leg of our journey, which is steady power.”
He, however, told operators in the sector that Nigerians expected more and that there was still a lot of work ahead, adding that the fact that Nigeria could produce over 7,000MW and put over 5,000MW on the grid meant that the country had 2,000MW of unused power left, despite the high demand for electricity.