Federal Government of Nigeria consecrates N336.878 billion for capital projects in the power sector for the 2024 fiscal year.
In the 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly, the Federal Government is proposing total allocation of N344.097 billion to the Ministry of Power, out of which N4.594 billion was budgeted for personnel cost and N2.625 billion earmarked as overhead cost.
Giving a breakdown of allocation to the power ministry, the budget document revealed that the Federal Ministry of Power Headquarters would receive N98.624 billion, out of which N96.883 billion would is for capital projects; National Rural Electrification was allocated N127.023 billion, out of which N125.003 would be utilised for capital projects.
Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, NEMSA, received total allocation of N3.186 billion, out of which N1.675 billion was for capital projects; National Power Training Institute got N418.188 million capital allocation out of a total allocation of N1.598 billion.
In addition, Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Limited and Transmission Company of Nigeria received total allocation of N1.543 billion and N112.133 billion out of which N776.054 million and N112.123 was allocated for capital projects respectively.
Some major capital projects earmarked for 2024 in the budget document include the N3.37 billion distribution expansion programme projects to utilise the stranded power from the grid; Nigeria Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP), a multilateral/bilateral project tied to a loan, received an allocation of N72.45 billion; while the construction and installation of 132KVA power substation Ibadan, Oyo State, is scheduled to gulp N3 billion.
The Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), a multilateral/bilateral project tied loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) would gulp N66.623 billion; while another project tied to a loan from the World Bank, the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), would receive N15.311 billion.
Furthermore, N1.25 billion was budgeted for the development of three-in-one solar lights for selected rural communities in Kogi State; N1.25 billion was also earmarked for the installation of three-in-one solar lights in selected communities of Lagos.
The Federal Government also plans to construct all-in-one solar street light at Njikoka/Dunukofia/Anaocha Federal Constituency of Anambra state for N1 billion; it intends to spend N2.268 billion for compensation for transmission line and substation projects, as well as N2.268 billion for the payment of compensation to project affected persons and communities (PAPS) for crops, economic trees and structures nationwide.
Others are the Nigeria electricity transmission project (multilateral/bilateral project) tied to a loan, would receive allocation of N27.732 billion; while the Nigeria Transmission Expansion Project Phase 1 (NTEP), a multilateral/bilateral project tied to a loan, would receive an allocation of N82.036 billion.
Some Nigerians are still skeptical if the money injected into power will improve the sector as previous administrations have been involved in such measures without remedy.
It is hoped that that the renewed power project will be beneficial for the country, at a time when some manufacturers are groaning in power outage resulting to low production, while some multinationals are quitting the country due to the lingering issue.
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