Electricity: Peter Obi ignorant about Nigeria’s stored capacity of megawatts — Onanuga

The Presidency has said that power generation in Nigeria has improved under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, despite persistent challenges in the electricity sector.

This is is even as it dismissed comment by presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, about the country’s poor electricity generation.

Recall that Obi had promised to generate 10,000 megawatts for the country if elected president in 2027.

However, the presidency is now saying that Obi is ignorant about the stored capacity of electricity megawatts in Nigeria.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this while fielding questions on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Tuesday.

According to him, the country currently has an installed power generation j of about 13,500 megawatts, which is higher than the level inherited by the present administration.

Onanuga, however, noted that inadequate gas supply remains a major obstacle to optimal power generation.

He attributed the challenge to outstanding debts owed by operators in the power sector to gas suppliers, describing it as a longstanding problem inherited by the Tinubu administration.

The presidential aide maintained that efforts are ongoing to address the challenges facing the sector and improve electricity supply across the country.

Onanuga said: “The first thing Tinubu did when he came to power was to sign the Electricity Generation act, which enables the state to generate and distribute power. Some of these states are taking advantage of it.

“Power generation has increased. We are not at the level the president met it.

“What the people don’t know is that, which Peter Obi didn’t know, when he came and said he’s going to generate 10,000 megawatts, we already have in Nigeria, stored capacity of 13,500 megawatts.

“The problem we are having is no gas. The players in the sector are owing the gas companies legacy debt of over N4 trillion which has become the problem of this administration.”