Speaking on Arise Television, the broadcast arm of
She added that the first step was to ensure that
Tifase said the company had no fears over whether the project will fail, insisting that
She said: "We have done extensive due diligence across the value chain from transmission to distribution because that's our initial focus. Today,
"However, only about 7 gigawatts of that are operational. The aim is to ensure we achieve a peak in excess of what was achieved a couple of months ago, about 5.3 gigawatts to ensure we can evacuate 7 to 8 gigawatts available today. We know where the hot spots are. We know what has to be done in each Disco.
"Even the Discos and TCN have their performance improvement plans. They have their extensive long term plans. So, we are aligning with those plans. Just the end of last year, the Discos issued the final version of their performance improvement plans. So, it's up to us to take up those plans to draw up a longer term strategy to evacuate the 25,000mw.
"The federal government has taken over the role of chief stakeholder for resolving the power deficit. Generation and distribution are already privatised. However, distribution remains the biggest challenge in that value chain."
On the financial risks involved in the agreement, Tifase stressed that the government has said it will come in and provide a sovereign guarantee to back further investments in upgrading the grid.
She explained that the 25,000mw target might not be enough for the entire country, but noted that it was a good place to start the growth of the power sector in
"The decision on 25,000mw remains fixed.
On the cost of the project, she explained: "Where we are now is a project that costs N20 billion, E20 million in total and we at this moment are at E15.2 million and N1.7 billion naira in total and that's what constitutes the initial sum for the pre-engineering project.
"The project eventually will transition into a first phase that costs about E2.2 billion, but at this point in time, entering into the initial stages cost N1.7 billion and E15.2 million."
The
She said: "If we didn't enter into this agreement without the knowledge that that (maintenance) was a risk, it would have been foolhardy of us. So, we sat with the government and other stakeholders and we understood the challenges pertaining to operational maintenance of electricity infrastructure.
"We have come up with a concept that we believe is very comprehensive. It will utilise local resources and SMEs and leverage local third party EPCs that we will be working with, and the idea is to have trained and certified engineers in-country that can service these equipment. Even university students will be trained for this.
"We will ensure the right technology. We are doing an extensive study of the grid, training will be done here in
On the prospects of achieving its target, the company chief executive said: "It is achievable because we have delivered such projects in
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