The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, on Monday, inaugurated the Light-up Nigeria programme in the South-East, aimed at accelerating power supply to industrial clusters in the region.
Inaugurating the project at the old government lodge, Enugu, the vice president said that it was part of the ongoing efforts to improve energy supply to industrial clusters across the country.
He assured the southeasterners that President Bola Tinubu meant well for the region, adding, “If the South-East works, Nigeria will work.”
The Light-up Nigeria Project is spearheaded by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited owned by the Federal Government.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NDPHC, Mr Chinedu Ugbo, said the event provided an opportunity for the business community in the South-East to interact with the Vice President.
Ugbo said, “The Light-up Nigeria project, which is the focus of today’s event, is led by Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited. The NDPHC, a government-owned company, is responsible for implementing the National Integrated Power Project and operates a portfolio of gas thermal electricity generation assets in Nigeria. However, the optimal utilisation of these assets has been hindered by technical challenges and market constraints.
“One major challenge is the lack of sufficient transmission and distribution infrastructure to transport power from the plants. To underscore this point, just last Friday, we received the Honourable Minister of Power at our 500MW Benin (Ihovbor) power plant. This power plant shares the transmission facilities with Azura-Edo power plant next door with over 460 MW. The two plants together can generate over 900MW.”
