•Commissioned JICA’s donated 1.2mw solar plant in lower Usuma Dam
Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, on Tuesday restated the Federal Government’s commitment to completing the ongoing projects met on ground by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He said while commissioning the first phase of the 1.2 mega watts solar plant donated by the Japanese Government through its agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), to its Nigerian counterpart that the Buhari administration will keep its words.
According to the minister, “One of the things this administration under President Buhari promised, unlike in the past, is that we will continue with all the projects that we met that are viable and visible and we will complete them.”
Fashola noted while delivering his speech at the commissioning of the solar plant held in Lower Usuman dam in Abuja that the project was one of those projects that have already been completed by the administration.
He stated that the current government will keep its word, adding, “As we said at the inauguration of the Power, Works and Housing Roadmap for electricity development, we are going to start from incremental power because there is no enough power. And we will go from incremental to steady power and from there to uninterrupted power.
“This is the first step to incremental power. Again, we have kept our word. We have added more power here. We also told you that we will expand the energy mix of Nigeria and make her less dependent on gas and more dependable on renewable energy, solar, wind, biomass, nuclear and hydrogen. We are keeping our words today. We are expanding the energy mix with the solar power plant. So, this solar plant fufils that commitment that we will do what we said.
Speaking further, he reassured Nigerians that the government in place will use the opportunity of the developmental initiatives to grow the economy in a manner that includes people. “In a manner that would enable them to get up every morning to say, I am going to work.”
