By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has asked state governors to remove Right of Way barriers in order to fast-track the expansion of power infrastructure and strengthen the national grid.
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A statement from the Office of the Vice President quoted Osinbajo as saying this during deliberations at the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja.
He said, “The Federal Government wants affected states to remove Right of Way barriers in order to fast-track the expansion and strengthening of the national power grid. This way, some of the recent disruptions to the electric power supply in the country could be avoided.
“This was one of the deliberations of the National Economic Council meeting which held Friday, where the Council was briefed on the current state of power generation in the country by the Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu.”
The Governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya, who said the Minister of Power updated the council on the power situation in the country, added that NEC was briefed on the on-grid power generation which also resulted in grid collapses on March 14 and March 15.
He said, “A key observation that came up that needs urgent attention is the issues of RoW that has hampered billions of naira of transmission projects that are meant to strengthen and expand the grid.
“Most of these projects are delayed because of gaps in the implementation of RoW resolutions that state governments are responsible for.”
The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, said, “There is need for urgent attention on the issue of state government’s approval on the Right of Way, which has hampered billions of naira worth transmission projects that are meant to strengthen and expand the grid for better supply of electricity in the country.
“Most of these projects were delayed because of gaps in the implementation of the Right of Way resolutions that state governments are responsible for and there are currently 32 projects across multiple states stalled or that have been unable to begin post-approval. The projects account for an investment of $137m that the Nigerian public is unable to realise value from due to these intractable issues.”
