NIGERIA'S POWER GENERATION DROPS TO 2,800MW

Nigeria's total electricity generation has dropped to a meagre 2,800 Megawatts, the lowest it has been in nearly a year.
The Ministry of Power said on Thursday that the power output dropped from a peak of 4,500 MW on 3rd April to 2,800 as at April 30.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali while speaking at a meeting with the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) Ade Abolurin called for increased protection of Nigeria's power infrastructure.
He said the affected pipeline is the Escravos route,
"As at April 3, which is the nearest reference point for us, we were able to generate about 4,500MW on the grid, but as at this morning we had gone down to about 2,800MW.
"So you can see how much power we have lost as a result of vandalism, that is why power supply has become very bad all over the country because of these strange Nigerians that continue to deliberately blow up our gas pipelines", Mr. Igali said.
Nigerians are groaning under the lack of power supply as all Nigerian cities including Abuja and Lagos have witnessed the worst supply of electricity in recent years with only three to four hours a day in many places.
With the rising temperature, the situation has become unbearable for Nigerians.
Mr Ogali decried the activities of the vandals as economic sabotage and said the Ministry of Power was working closely with the security agencies especially NSCDC to adequately protect power infrastructure across Nigeria. Mr. Igali said the damaged pipelines were being repaired to boost power generation.
Earlier, the Civil Defence boss, Mr. Ade Abolurin condemned the activities of vandals and said that the NSCDC acquired more boats, vehicles and gadgets to track down these vandals.
The NSCDC boss further said that in 2015 about 50 vandals have been convicted by law courts while others have been arrested and are waiting for prosecution.
Mr. Abolurin appealed to private investors operating the power infrastructure to make their own provision for security to complement NSCDC efforts.