Tope Oke, Akure
Sixteeen days after the 434 MW Geregu Power Station in Kogi State came on stream, President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday commissioned the Phase 2 of the 500 MW Omotosho Power Station at the southern senatorial district of Ondo State.
The president at the commissioning assured Nigerians that by the middle of next year, the power situation in the country “would have been reasonably stabilised, I am not saying total.”
He said efforts of government to improve the power sector has led to recognition and support from the global community and the private sector with an injection of over 3 billion USD into the Nigerian power sector.
The Omotosho Plant is one of the ten power projects embarked upon by government under the platform of the National Independent Power Project (NIPP) and according to the President, the whole ten will be commissioned by the end of the first quarter of next year.
The president also assured that all labour-related issues involving workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) will be sorted out before the planned handover of the plants to preferred bidders.
With the commissioning that was witnessed by by top Federal and State government officials including the governors of Kaduna, Gombe, Ondo and Kogi, the total megawatts contributable to the national grid from the Omotosho plants reached 838.
The first phase of the Omotosho plant which was located near Ore to take advantage of the existing East-West powerline that connected Lagos with the South-Eastern parts of the country has an installed capacity to produce 338 megawatts.
A thermal station, the Omotosho Plant which is to be fed by the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) to also take the advantage of the abundant gas resources of Nigeria, a large parcentage of which is being wasted through flaring.
In recognition of the contribution of the late former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, who was the Minister of Power and Steel when the idea of the power plants was conceived, the President directed the gathering to observe a minute silence for the deceased who also hailed from the Okitipupa local council location of the Omotosho plant.
Describing Agagu as “a teacher and great intellectual”, the president also prayed for the repose of the souls of all those who lost their lives in the plane crash that involved the remains of the former governor.
In his speech, the Ondo governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko urged the Federal Government to also concentrate on power distribution with the same vigour it is handling power generation with a request that transmission lines be constructed to connect the Omotosho facility with major towns in the state.
