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Vice President
Namadi Sambo has advised the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)
not to allow maintenance of power plants across the country interrupt
the supply of electricity to Nigerians.

Speaking during the
weekly meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Power in Abuja,
yesterday, Mr Sambo also said there should be a synergy between the
Ministry of Power and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to
avoid a drop in gas supply during maintenance operations. He directed
the Power Holding Company to prevail on its staff to desist from the
act of shutting down power plants whenever they make demand, adding
that adhoc staff be trained to handle power plants against subversive
elements in PHCN.

While emphasizing
transparency and accountability in the sector, Mr Sambo said Nigerians
should be informed on the efforts of government to provide adequate
power supply by settling labour issues, benefits of the planned
privatization, and the subversive activities of labour union which
militate against the attainment of this goal. The vice president
further set up a committee to resolve any impending issues with labour.
Members of the committee include the Ministries of Power, Labour,
Finance, National Planning, Justice, and the Head of the Civil Service
of the Federation.

Unhappy unions

Minister of State
for Power, Nuhu Wya, gave highlights on Geregu, Ibom, Jebba and Egbin
Power Plants. According to him, the Geregu Power Plant suffered from
gas interruption last week due to repairs carried out by Nigeria Gas
Company over a pipe leakage on Oben-Ajaokuta Line. He also noted that
the Ibom Power Plant is experiencing low gas pressure and has been out
of operation since December 10, while Egbin is undergoing repairs on a
broken cold reheat pipeline that occurred immediately after the system
collapse of December 8, 2010.

He was, however, optimistic that the repairs would be completed by
December 17 to restore 200MW to the system. Mr Wya said the PHCN
in-house union had given notice to the Ministry of Power and the
management of the company on its plan to embark on a “sensitization
exercise” on December 16 against the proposed privatization exercise in
the power sector. He also stated that 791 staff, representing 1.20
percent, are yet to be cleared for payment of monetisation benefits
while 44,035 (97.41%) staff have been paid.