Aso Rock Depends on Generators As Power Outage Deepens Nigerians’ Woes

• Nigerian households and businesses have been hard hit by a double whammy of a lingering fuel crisis and worsening power outage
• Economic activities have being crippled across vital sectors in the country as the leaders keep mum over the situation
• In Abuja, private and public offices, including government buildings have resorted to spending huge funds on alternative power sources, especially generators

FCT, Abuja - A report by BusinessDay newspaper has revealed that the nation’s seat of power – Aso Rock Presidential Villa – was not spared from the current blackout across the country as it ran on power generators for most of the day on Monday, March 14.

This comes at a time President Muhammadu Buhari is vacating in London for a medical check-up.

A presidency source quoted in the report said the State House Conference Centre had been running on diesel-powered generators in recent times.

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The source said:

“People are complaining about the power supply. The Presidential Villa is not different; the place runs on generators daily.”

According to the source, the power system is run by Julius Berger staff, which also supplies diesel fuel for the generator.

When contacted, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, said:

“The minister just briefed you last week. I have nothing new to tell you for now; no, nothing.”

Several ministries at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja were also in partial or total blackout.

Civil servants, who were seen idle in their offices, said they could not execute their tasks due to the power outage, and that activities had generally slowed down.

At the office of the head of civil service, it was gathered that there was a severe power outage throughout last week.

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A staff member, who, at about 1 pm, had already closed for the day and was on her way home, said:

“We can’t do anything. We can’t make payments, make orders, or any transaction.”

Another staff member said:

“The light situation is a complete mess. No light at home, no light at work. Last week, there was no light from Monday to Friday at the service; currently, there is no light. Whenever they decide to bring the light, it’s usually very late, when workers have already closed.”

Minister of power meets stakeholders as electricity crisis bites harder

Recall that the minister of power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu held an emergency meeting with all the stakeholders in the power sector to address the current low power generation which has caused epileptic power supply across the country.

The minister warned that stakeholders must work together to make electricity more stable across the country.

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The meeting which was held at the conference hall of the ministry had in attendance delegation from the power generation companies, Transmission Company of Nigeria, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading, and Niger Delta Power Holding Company.

FG to construct its first nuclear power plant, signs agreement with Russia, Pakistan

Meanwhile, the federal government has stated that bids for the building of a 4000 megawatts nuclear power plant is now open.

This was revealed by Dr. Yau Idris, Director General of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, during the ongoing Nigerian International Energy Summit in Abuja.

If the bids are successful and construction is finished, Idris claims that the factory would be the largest power plant in the country.

Source: Legit.ng