THE December deadline promised by the federal government to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity supply may have eventually been a mirage as only 3,500 megawatts have so far been generated.
The indication to this was disclosed by Dr Olanrewaju Babalola , minister of power, in an interactive session with journalist during his official visit to Gereku power station located at Ajaokuta, Kogi State, recently. Babalola  had indicated that power generation, as at three weekends ago, stood at 3,500mw but explained that the most important thing being put in place was to have efficient power system, “Whether we realise the 6,000 or 10,000mw and this is what we are trying to do.”
The present government has identified the bane of the sector and has subsequently earmarked a large percentage of its expenditure for the provision of power . It promised to  produce 6000 megawatts of electricity by December 31. But according  to Babalola, only 3,500mw has been produced, an indication  that the solution  to the lingering electricity problem in the country will be long to come. Infrastructure has been identified as the key constraint to private sector development in Nigeria. In fact, the average firm in the country experiences power failure or voltage fluctuations. Manufacturers   are all aware  of the damage  the epileptic power has done to their operations, but they behave as if all is well. Many of them  give the impression   that they believe the government is committed to addressing  the perennial power problem in the country.
Although ,the manufacturers’ umbrella body, the  Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (Man) and West-Pac Electrical signed agreement for independent power project(IPP) to address the problem of its members, it  does not know that the agreement  is a vote of no confidence on government. Within  one year over 820 manufacturing outfits have closed shop.
In  April, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry conveyed a stakeholders meeting to brainstorm on the need for regular and steady power supply to the manufacturing sector which comprises Ministry of Power, Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN), Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (Man), National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mines, and Agriculture (Naccima), Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (Cman) to interact and fashion out ways of giving preferential power supply to industries on daily basis. They agreed on the modalities for achieving this for each zone; identified constraints and developed measures to tackle the problems.  This problem has yet to be addressed. Industry reports put the current power generation in the entire sector at around 2200 mega watts, a far cry from 6000-mega watts figure. Operators, however, believe that the odds are still staked high against the realisation of the government target as the sector is bedevilled by inadequate distribution and transmission lines, poor state of existing facilities, vandalism of gas pipelines, gas shortage, human capital shortage, banks’ refusal to fund power projects and so on.
Mr. Bashir Borodo, president of Man had also decried the virtual non-existent power supply and the current high cost of diesel in the country, saying now that diesel price had risen to N105 per litre manufacturers were spending an average of N1.8 billion a week to fuel their generators.
“In an economy where 80 percent of the power need is self-generated from diesel, many companies, small and medium scale have either collapsed owing to the high cost of diesel, or are on the verge of shutting down.
Oladiran Fawibe, chief executive officer of  International Energy Services (IES) Limited, stated recently  that about $500 billion oil revenue accumulated over the years has failed to better the lives of citizens, charging government to ensure that the nation’s resources are well managed to meet the basic needs of Nigerians.
“Today, many organisations are closing down because we have not used the money generated from oil to generate power to supply companies. Even domestic needs could not be met from the huge sum.  “If we must tackle the crisis in the country, government should have a way of ensuring that the impact of oil revenue is felt by Nigerians,” he advised.