Nigeria Govt, firm sign 550MW power purchase agreement

In a bid to bring an end to the lingering electric power issue in Nigeria, the government on Friday took the quest for sufficient power supply in the country with the signing of a power purchasing agreement (PPA) with Kingline Development Nigeria Limited, a new power generation firm with Nigeria and South Korean interests.

Local media report the signing of the agreement is expected to lead to the injection of 550 megawatts of electricity into the national grid at the completion of the power project to be located in Ondo state, South west of the country.

Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Marilyn Amobi, signed the PPA on behalf of the Federal Government, while the MD of Kingline Development Limited, Akinnola Fola, signed on behalf of the company.

Amobi expressed delight with the signing of the PPA which represented a prospect of increased electricity supply and called on the company to ensure the completion of the project on time.

“For the NBET and for Nigeria, it is a welcome development. It confirms our quest for power generation and government’s commitment to ensuring that all the structures that are required to attract and make our investors comfortable are on the ground” she said.

The minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, had earlier advised industrialists, directors and other employers of labour in the country not to panic or downsize their staff in the face of current power supply challenges saying the Federal Government has put a roadmap in place that would ensure progressive power supply.

According to Fashola, the real problem in the sector was lack of sufficient electricity, Fashola, who recalled that the highest generation capacity, achieved only in February this year, was 5074MW for a country of no less than 150 million people as against Chad and Liberia with 84MW and 40MW electricity demands respectively, said the solution to insufficient power was to get more power adding, “This is the basis for leg one of our roadmap Incremental Power,” he said.