Nigeria’s capital city gets N1.6 billion for electricity

The Federal Executive Council has approved N1.6 billion for the upward review of the cost for the construction of injection substations to boost power supply in the Gwarinpa area of Abua, Nigeria’s capital city.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the end of this week’s cabinet meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said the contract was first approved in 2015 but due to an ownership tussle, the contractor could not access the site, as a result, inflation crept in, leading to calls for review of the cost of the contract to the tune of over a billion naira.

Mohammed, who spoke on behalf of his Federal Capital Territory (FCT) counterpart, said: “The Minister of the FCT brought his memo seeking approval for the upward review of the contract for the construction of two 15 MVA injection substations at Life Camp Gwarinpa in Abuja.

“In 2015, the council approved the contract to supply 15/33 MVA injection substations to improve power supply in Gwarinpa but regrettably, for more than two years the contractors could not access the site due to ownership tussle of the land.

“By the time they later had access, prices went up, the dollar appreciated and they came back in 2018 and are coming again today saying that given the population of Gwarinpa now, they need not two but actually three injection substations there and that contract was approved today for the sum of N1, 640, 406, 426.26.” (VON)