FG To Create 20,000 Jobs As Ministry Begin Installation Of Six Million Electricity Meters

The Federal Government has said that at least 20,000 more jobs would be created as the Ministry of Power launches another phase of the nationwide installation of electricity meters in the new year.

Naija News reports that the government made this known in a document on the review of last year’s performance of the power sector, Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, under the current administration.

According to the document, the ministry would deploy six million meters across states in the first and second quarters of 2023 to minimize the number of unmetered electricity consumers in the country.

It was revealed in the document obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power in Abuja on Sunday that the government executed a metering initiative post privatisation with one million meters rolled out in the first phase of the National Mass Metering Programme in 2022.

In his report, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) were fundamental in designing and implementing the programme.

He said, “We are perfecting plans for an additional six million meters under the second and third phases of the programme that will commence in the first and second quarters of 2023 respectively.

“The first phase generated 10,000 jobs in installation and assembly and we anticipate over 20,000 additional jobs would be generate in the second phase. Both the phases have sustainable financing structures.”

Aliyu further revealed that the incumbent administration was also establishing a Meter Service Fund that would allow for continuous metering in the NESI.

The Minister assured that the government would bequeath to Nigerians 4,000 megawatts of additional generating capacity as it would complete and inaugurate the 700MW Zungeru Hydropower plant in the first quarter of 2023.

His statement added: “We will also see to the operationalisation of the 240MW Afam III and 300MW Okpai Phase II to mention a few. We will set the country on a stable path for 10,000MW of supplied energy.

“Today we are at 8,000MW with 5,000MW on-grid and 3,000MW+ of industrial captive off-grid, and we will leave an installed capacity of almost 22,000MW. We also have robust programmes ongoing with facilities and investments secured of over $3bn to eliminate the large gap between our transmission capacity and supplied energy.”

According to Aliyu, the hydropower component of the Kashimbilla Multipurpose Dam was designed and upgraded from 6MW to 40MW with Phase I of the evacuation infrastructure completed in March 2020, covering 245km of 132kV transmission lines and three substations connecting Takum, Wukari, Rafin Kada, Dounga and Yandev in Taraba and Benue states.

He noted that the Phase II of the evacuation infrastructure is currently at 45 per cent completion level covering 56km extension of the 132kV transmission line from Yandev to Makurdi and complete rehabilitation of the Yandev substation while Phase II of the evacuation infrastructure would lead to the electrification of 24 host communities including Zaki-Biam, Anyi, Buruku, Birama, Bibi, Shibong, among others within Benue State.

“We have changed the narrative of the sector from consumption spending (on subsidies) to real infrastructure spending. A total of 105 power transformer projects were completed during the period 2015 – 2022, adding a capacity of 6,216MVA to the grid, with 73 of the power transformers installed by TCN engineers in substations across the nation,” the Minister added.