Worried by the challenge posed by gas supply to power generation, the Federal Government yesterday held a one day summit with gas producers with a view to finding a lasting solution to the issue.
Speaking at the forum, Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, disclosed that there was the capacity to produce 9,000MW of power by December this year if there is adequate gas supply.
He explained that if all the NIPP's come on stream as expected, and gas supply? challenge to existing power plants are addressed, the country could even produce over 9,000MW at the end of the year.
“There is serious gas shortage problem… For a nation suffering serious power shortage, not to be able to run enough power plants because of gas supply challenge is not good,” Nnaji said.
He said it was government's desire to see a rapidly accelerated power generation resulted in the collaboration with the ministry of petroleum and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) with a view to closing the identified critical gaps in the gas supply chain.