PHCN power station
The
Power Holding Company of Nigeria has said that there will be no
blackout in Lagos as it is being speculated following a fire incidence
at its Ikeja West transmission station located at Ayobo, Ipaja area of
the state.
The Chief Executive Officer/Managing
Director, Ikeja Distribution Company, Mr. Okaa Akamnonu, who spoke with
journalists in Lagos, on Friday, described the affected transmission
station as one of the “biggest in the country responsible for very
massive power transmission handling.”
He explained that the fire incidence,
which was caused by an internal defect, resulted in the loss of one of
the five 150mva transformers.
He, however, lamented the widespread
rumour that there would be a blackout in some parts of Lagos as a result
of the fire incidence.
Akamnonu, who said such rumour could
mislead the public about PHCN’s capacity to respond to emergency, noted
that the load on the affected transformer was immediately transferred to
other transmission stations with spare capacity.
He said, “We read in a paper that
customers in Lagos will experience a blackout and no one can predict
when the problem will be rectified. No business and customer is without
supply as a result of that incidence.”
Akamnono said efforts were being put in place to repair the transmission station.
The General Manager, Transmission, Lagos
Region, Mr. Oyeleke Adeoye, said the fire incidence happened about 11
am on Tuesday, adding that three of the unaffected transformers were
restored the same day while the “fourth one which is quite close to the
one involved in the fire was restored by 8 am the following day.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Prof.
Chinedu Nebo, has attributed incessant power outages in the country to
dilapidated infrastructure.
Nebo said the Federal Government’s
seemingly low capacity to generate and distribute power had a lot to do
with the aged equipment currently in use in the sector.
Nebo, according to a statement from the
Ministry of Power on Friday, was quoted as saying, “for instance, only
yesterday we received a report that a 34-year-old sub-station located in
the Ikeja Power Distribution Company in Lagos was gutted by fire. This
would result in 20 per cent power cut in the area.
“At Egbin, I also got a report of a
failure due to no maintenance of infrastructure. All these things have
contributed to the present low capacity to generate and distribute
power.”
The minister, who stated this when the
Senate Committee on Power visited the ministry on oversight assignment,
observed that the practice of having abandoned projects scattered across
the country had also affected the power sector negatively.
While seeking the support of the
legislature in appropriation of funds for these projects, Nebo stated
that it was imperative to get the power infrastructure completed before
they could be used optimally.
PUNCH
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