By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has disclosed that the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, needs about N2.8 trillion to execute 149 projects to improve electricity transmission across the country.

A statement by the Ministry on Tuesday said Chief Adelabu made this disclosure in separate appearances before power sector committees in the National Assembly to defend the Ministry of Power’s 2025 budget proposal.

The Minister also disclosed that, as part of efforts to improve power supply, the Federal Government has approved the commencement of the second phase of the Siemens power project under the Presidential Power Initiative with 95 per cent completion of the pilot stage in 2024.

He said: “I am happy to appear before you today to address you on what we have been able to achieve last year and what is expected of us as a ministry this year.

“For the TCN alone, we will need about N2.779 trillion to enable us to execute about 149 projects we are currently engaged in all over the country. Our total budget as a ministry is not even up to this but as the saying goes that half bread is better than none.

“I’m telling you so that you can be aware of the kind of money that is needed in the ministry for us to address our electricity challenges. We need your cooperation and collaboration in achieving the mandate of Mr. President in electricity supply to Nigerians”, the Minister said.

Speaking further on the Siemens project, Adelabu said, the substations to be built across the country, would address the nation’s fragile power infrastructure, occasioned by obsolete and outdated equipment.

“The Federal Government is fully determined to address these challenges and issues that have been blocking our progress in our effort to provide electricity to Nigerians and our consumers. Of particular note is the grid collapse, which has to do with the obsolete and outdated equipment around our power stations.

“To practically address this, the Siemens project will come on board in the first quarter of this year. We have almost concluded the take off of the project and it will involve building five substations across the country. This will energise our supply so that the issue of grid collapse will be a thing of the past. By next week, we will begin the contracts for the substations to come on board”.

He harped on the need to address the issue of vandalism of power sector’s infrastructure, noting that it was a huge hindrance to the government’s efforts to improve power supply.

“One other critical thing I want to draw your attention to is the issue of vandalisation as it concerns our assets. It is important we sensitise our people against this act. We must be involved in serious advocacy on this issue. We must jointly address the issue of protecting the power assets. A damage to one is a damage to all, especially the transmission assets, they are so interwoven and a damage to one is a damage to all.

“In this case, we need the cooperation and collaboration of all our security agencies, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Police and the Civil Defence. But more importantly, we need the cooperation and collaboration of the office of the National Security Adviser.

“We are not just dealing with those who steal cables but bandits, who use dynamite to blow up towers and transmission lines. There is no amount we can vote for this either as a ministry or in TCN that can solve this.

Our transmission line from Shiroro – Mando – Kaduna which was attacked by these bandits, and which we are yet to put back, was done in a manner as if we were in a war situation. We did not budget for what was spent to put what we could together. How do we manage the protection of these assets? This must be our joint concern, so we are calling for your cooperation and collaboration in addressing this security challenge facing us in our power assets”, he added.