Power supply: FG spends $1bn on gas excavation

Federal Government yesterday announced that it was committing the sum of one billion dollars to gas excavation to boost gas availability to power plants.
The money is to be sourced from the resources allocated to the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, and the private sector.
Rising from an enlarged stakeholders meeting with Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo in Abuja, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Power, Amb Godknows Igali and the managing director of the NDPHC, Mr. James Olotu told State House correspondents that the initiative was part of government’s bid to boost power supply, which had gone down in recent times due to acute shortage of gas to power plants across the country.
According to Igali, yesterday’s meeting was a follow up to the similar one jointly held at the weekend between the Ministers of Power, Petroleum Resources, Central Bank of Nigeria governor, as well and the chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, where issues pertaining to gas supply power plants were discussed.
“Today’s meeting on a higher level chaired by the vice president during which the vision of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, which is already playing a critical role in the power sector, especially in the development of the National Independent Power Project, NIPP, power plant and also now going to make further investment in the sector, plans towards ensuring gas is available to these plants.”