Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
President Olusegun Obasanjo Monday gave assurance that the target of 10,000 megawatts of electricity which the Federal Government set for itself would be met by the end of 2007.
President Olusegun Obasanjo Monday gave assurance that the target of 10,000 megawatts of electricity which the Federal Government set for itself would be met by the end of 2007.
The president stated this in Abuja when he received the first quarter report of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC) for 2006 which also included two reports on the supply of electricity and water by the Federal and state governments.
He also assured that all efforts would be made to attain the target of 17,176 megawatts with the completion of all the 12 on-going plants by the Federal Government and the five existing and 14 new independent power plants.
'We are not resting on our oars," he said, noting that 'in the past there was no planning, while for 10 years, there was no investment at all in power generation."
Obasanjo, who admitted that power generation was still inadequate, however, noted the Federal and state governments' efforts at improving the situation in the country.
While on power distribution, he said the introduction of pre-paid meter cards would eliminate the wrong billings, he pointed out that on the provision of water, the rate of coverage of the country would improve from 49 per cent to 60 per cent, stressing that the situation would continue to further improve.
President Obasanjo also commended NEIC for confirming government's assessment of its power and water supply programmes.
Presenting the three reports by NEIC, its chairman, Professor Ibrahim Ayagi, noted that 'the challenge of managing the Nigerian economy in 2006 lies in sustaining the tempo of growth in the productive sector especially agriculture and manufacturing, while maintaining a prudent government spending and a non-inflationary rate of growth in money supply".
While noting that the 10 per cent GDP growth rate target for 2006 was feasible with more determined efforts, the report estimated a 7.0 per cent rise in disposable income and the creation of 756,816 new jobs in 2006, with the rate of inflation averaging 8.3 per cent.
The reports on power and water supply commended the efforts of Federal and state governments, noting that the total sum of N268.6 billion was spent by both tiers of government on water supply between 1999 and 2005, while the Federal Government alone appropriated N285.3 billion and released N182.4 billion or 64 per cent of capital expenditure on power between 1995 - 2005.
While commending the rural electrification programme of the Federal Government, the report, however, noted that the Ministry of Power and Steel would require the sum of N47 billion to complete the outstanding 2057 projects under the scheme.