Nigerians now enjoy 18 hours electricity daily – Power Minister

The Minister of Power, Mr Saleh Mamman, has stated that Nigerians across the country now get 18 to 24 hours of electricity daily.

Saleh Mamman, made this known during an interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on Tuesday, as he maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had improved the infrastructure in the power system.

The minister said the federal government had upgraded the 330KVA, the highest voltage in the country.

He confirmed that 132 substations have been improved and the 40MW Kashimbilla station has been completed.

Mamman added that work on Zungeru station in Niger has reached 70 per cent.

For Mambilla, the minister said the feasibility studies have been concluded and that contractors will soon begin construction.

“We have improved our services. Before this government, they gave light for less than 10 hours a day, but today I can tell you that we give light from 18 to 24 hours in a day.”

The minister said before now, Nigeria had less than 3,000mw of capacity generation.

“But today, we can generate up to 5,500mw capacity, although we cannot transmit all due to some constraints.”

Mamman assured that power supply would further improve after Siemens AG of Germany begins work in the sector.

But, Mamman’s claim of significantly improved power supply was contrary to the position of most Nigerians as well as the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) that recently listed unstable power supply as the number one challenge of doing business in the country.