Generator Suppliers and Govt. Contractors forced me to resign – Nnaji

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Fourteen months after his sudden exit from President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, ex-Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, on Friday opened up on the “powerful interests” he claimed forced him out of office.

Nnaji accused unnamed generator and diesel suppliers as well as sundry government contractors in the power sector of being behind his sudden resignation from office.

Nnaji, who is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Geometric Power Limited, however, took glory for the successful handover of the successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria  which took place on Friday.

The former minister spoke at Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, where he delivered the institution’s 5th Convocation Lecture entitled: “Towards a Sustainable Value System for Economic Growth.”

Young inventor dazzles Pres Jonathan with power-generating football

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday expressed delight over the creativity of a 25-year-old Nigerian, Jessica Matthews, who invented a power-generating football called SOCCKET ball.

Matthews, who is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Unchartedplay, was at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to present the ball, which can generate three hours of light from 30 minutes of play to Jonathan.

She also presented an energy-generating skipping rope to the President.

While congratulating her on her creativity and innovativeness, Jonathan said he was impressed that Matthews, who trained as a psychologist and economist, developed herself in the field of science.

He described her feat as a proof of the quality of human resource present in Nigeria.

The President said the invention was useful as a major tool that could be used to mobilise young Nigerians and encourage them to think more deeply.

Okupe Assures Of Uninterrupted Power Supply before Year End [VIDEO]

The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe has assured again that the era of shortage in power supply in most part of the nation will come to an end before the end of the year. This is coming on the heels of recent reports that Power Generation has dropped to 2,628.6 Megawatts.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja, Okupe explained further that on the issue of achieving uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria, the president is not resting on his oars to see that it becomes a reality, but expressed disappointment that the highly transparent and professional manner in which President Jonathan handled the privatization of the power sector is lost on the public in spite of the commendations of the global business community especially international investors.

He said the new owners of the divested assets of Power Holding Company of Nigeria will utilize the presently installed capacities more efficiently and add more power to the 5,000 megawatts already being generated by the country.

FG promises 18-hour daily power supply by 2014

The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that they will start enjoying power supply for 18 hours as from 2014.

The Minister of State for Power, Alhaja Zainab Kuchi, stated this while speaking with reporters at the headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja on Wednesday.

She also assured that power generation in the country would peak at 10,000 megawatts by the end of December 2014.

The minister said the increase in power generation would translate into between 17 and 18 hours of power supply in the country.

The minister in company with the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, were at the party’s secretariat to brief its leadership on the activities of their ministry in the last one year.

Nebo directed the minister of state to answer most of the questions by journalists after their interaction with the members of the National Working Committee of the party.

Severance benefits for PHCN workers: FG to commence payment on June 17

The Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo has disclosed the readiness of government to settle electricity workers’ severance package.

The minister said government would most likely pay the N384 billion to workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by June 17.

Nebo, who gave the assurance during his official inspection of Egbin Power Station in Lagos yesterday, said “very soon your severance package or entitlement will hit your various accounts by June 17.

“We hope to start payment of workers benefit by June 17 which is the tentative date we are working at, we need a lot of support from workers in areas of adequate information on the forms given to them,’’ he said.

Nebo said that for several months now, the technical and implementation committees set up to look into the issues of workers’ entitlements have been working seriously in ensuring effective result.

He said that contrite agreement had been reached with the leadership of the union in ensuring that what was agreed as the workers’ severance package was  paid as at when due. He urged them to ensure that all forms given to them were endorsed and filled adequately, adding that nobody would be left out.

Total System Collapse Disrupts Power Supply

Efforts by the Federal Government to improve electricity supply suffered a major setback yesterday, following a total system collapse that disrupted electricity supply across the country for several hours, Thisday has learnt.

Thisday gathered from a source at the National Control Centre (NCC) at Osogbo in Osun State that the system collapse, which occurred a few minutes to 5AM yesterday, led to total darkness throughout the country that lasted for several hours.

The spokesman of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Dave Fabiyi declined to comment on the development, when contacted, but a source within the NCC told THISDAY that supply was being restored gradually.

“Most places are still in darkness because it was a total collapse and it will be dangerous to put all the system on the grid at once. The system is being synchronised gradually and with time, supply will be restored fully,” he said.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known but the power sector has suffered both total and partial collapse in recent months, resulting in serious disturbances in the transmission network.