THEGUARDiAN, Monday, January 2,2012
BUSINESS I 23
5000 megawatts power generation not realistic, says official 'TWERE .ire strong indicaA [ions thai the country may not meet the 5000 megawatts electricity power generation promised by ihe end of
2011. Official sourc.es told the News Agency '01 Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday that power generation had even dropped kmher from 4,039.4 to3. SSi;megawatts. Prof. Barrh Nnaji. minister of Power, had in August, said that government was exploring various shortterm measures to get power generation to 5000 megawatts by December. He said that the measures would include upgrading and refurbishing of old plants as well as improving capacities of the plants to achieve the objective A source at the National Control Centre in Osogbo, however, said1 rhat the power generation, which stood at 4.0S9.4 on Thursday evening, had dropped to 3,881 megawatts by Friday morning. He said that current power generation was hovering around 4, C'89.4 to 4.20O megawatts, adding that based on the current, situation, there was no way the generation could hit 5000 megawatts as promised. " "The current power generation as at this morning stood at 3, 881 megawatts as against yesterday night which stood at 4,089.4 megawatts. "The country's power generations Is primarily fluctuating all ove r, but we cannot hit 51)00 megawatts by this December," the source said. The source claimed thac some of the country hydro plants were undergoing overhauling. NAN reports (hat that Egbin Power Station, which contributes about 1,080 megawatts into the national grid, has dropped to SOO megawatts. This has impacted grossly on the electricity distribution and suppfy to customers in the country. When contacted, Mr Hussain Labo, managing director of PHCN, said "please, I don't know anything about generation; I don't want Jo comment on the power generation. "You can call the generation section for an update," he said. Efforts by NAN to get the power minister for his comments proved abortive.
Former Minister o( Finance, Dr. Kalti IdrkaKalu (right); Managing Director of Chemical and Wired Products (CAP) Pic and overall Winner of ihe 2011 Pearl Awards in the Chemical and Paints, Diviriend Yield and Return on Equity categories, Mrs. Omolara Elemide; Martieling Manager. CAP Pic, Dominic Olaitejo; and Chief Executive Officer at Pearl Awards. Tayo Orekoya, during the ZUII Pearl Awards, in Lagos, recently.
Beneficiaries laud implementation of IFAD-assisted agric programme COME beneficiaries of IfAD JAssisted Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (CBARDP) in Xatsi'iia ind Z.imf.ira states, have land.'d the achievements of the programme. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports thet CBARDP is one of the three intervention programmes being sponsored by the UN organisation to impove agricultural production in Nigeria. It is also aimed at boosting employment and incomes of rural people in order to reduce poverty. The programme, which is currently being implemented in seven northern states, have touched the lives of 2.6 million people in the participating states Across section of the beneficiaries who spoke to NAN on Friday in Dutsinma, Katsina state, said the intervention programme had helped to improve their livelihood and freed them from the shackles of poverty.
also engaged the services of One of thebeneficiaires. Hajia three youths to tender the aniAisha Abdullah! of Kadangani Quarters, Dutsinma LGA, said mals and my rams haw she started a small scale busiincreased to 37. ne.ss with rlie loan she "I am really grateful to both secured from II:AD, Kat5ina state and the programme. Dutsinma local government," "I have been dreaming 10 he said. stait a small scale business, Also, Hajia Indo Mai-Tsabta but I was not opportuned to also from Dutsinma, said she raise the capital. But with the collected a loan of NlOO.OOO loan I got from the prowhich she invested in the purgramme, I was able to start chase of kitchen utensils. the business. She said that after disposing " " ! am now the proud owner the utensils, she bought fanning implements and is now of six cross bred cows, eight sheep and seven goats," rearing sheep. she said. "All the business J underAbdullah: said with took yielded profit- The small the N9O.OOO loan she got sheep which I bought Irom the programme, are growing very fast and she bought a set of calves and some of them have given a set of goals. birth. She appealed to iFAD to "Only God can repay these increase the loan to enable people (IFAD officials), we beneficiaries fight poverty. have no words to thank Another beneficiary, Malarn them," Tasbta said. Ado Dutsinma told NAN that Malam Hamida Yankara, he invested part of his loan a beneficiary of the CBARDP on breeding of rams, adding loan from Zamfara, said he set that he sold 26 rams during up shoe makingshop with the NSO.Ooq he received. the last Sallah festivity. '' I liave restocked and 1 have He said: ~" the business is rap-
idly expanding." He said that prior to getting the loan, he was idle and unemployed, "For the past three years before getting the loan, I was idle and use to sit under the shade ol a iree in front of Dutsinma the local government secretariat in Gusau. ~ " Now I am the proud owner of this shoe shop. I have been able to send some of my children to school, while two of my children are working as apprentices in my shop. I thank God and IFAD,' Yankara said. Alhaji Abubakar Kankia, National Coordinator of the programme, said the programme was meant to uplift the living standard of poor people in rural areas. "Basically the objective of the programme is to uplift the living condition of poor people in the seven participatingstates in the northern part of the country," he said. He said the states are Borno, [igawa, Katsina, Kebbi.Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
He said iFAD community programmes were based on community driven and approaches whereby the community is in the driving seal. "Projects executed in the benefitting communities are based on their needs and budget. The coordinator said the programme was targetted at supporting and enhancing the livelihood of women, vulnerable groups and youths in rural areas. He said the IFAD plans to review the focus of the programme to target agricultural activities which is the main occupation of the target communities. "We are using the value chain approach whereby provision of inputs, production, storage, processing and marketing are considered," he said. Kankia told NAN that the programme covered 69 local government areas and 207 villages in die seven participating states. (NAN)
Globacom launches Ghana operations this month By Adeyemi Adepetun
ATIONAL Operator in Nigeria will.launch the anticipated Glo Mobile network in Ghana on Thursday, January 19, 2012. According to the Chief Operating Officer of Glo Mobile Ghana, George Andah, Globacom's world class network will go live for commercial voice and data service in January 19, 2012, adding that this historic event will be heralded by a series of launch activities. Andah said the telecommunications company will continue to pursue and provide the needed opportunity for
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Africa lo leap forward economically through an excellent communication network and cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services. According to him, Globacom announced last month that the Glo Ghana launch was launch-teady after having completed building its infrastructure which includes over 1,600 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), five" Switches with capacity for !0 million lines, 18 Base Switching Centres (HSC), 800 3G Node Bs, a state-of- the-art Call Center and25Gloworldotitlets-allof. which form part of an inte-
grated state-of-the-art telecommunications system designed to offer exceptional telephone and internet connectivity to the majority of Ghanaians. The Ghana COO who disclosed this during the GloCAF award in Ghana, added that the Glo Mobile Ghana network is a 3.5G Plus system with the latest telecommunication technology such as Next Generation Network (NGN) and will he complemented by the high-capacity Glo 1 submarine fibre-optic cable. He said die roll out of the services of Glo Mobile network will also be supported
by a 2.9OO km-long network tremendously boost" the of terrestrial fibre optic ring, capacity of the people to comwhich has been built across municate seamlessly with the country. business associates and loved Andah said Globacom owed ones at the most competitive he said. much of its success in Ghana tariffs," He also thanked Ghanaians to the support received perfor keeping faith with sonally from the President and Government of Ghana, as Globacom and assured the well as to the goodwill and country of the company's resolve to offer a world class understanding of the good people of Ghana. telecom network that every The massive support we Ghanaian will be proud of. The COO concluded that have received from every strata of the society bolstered our Globacom is absolutely cerzeal to builu in Ghana a tain that its relationship with robust nationwide network the government and people with the most modem, most of Ghana will continue to be innovative and the most reli- mutually beneficial and able infrastructure mat will stressed that Glo Mobile
Ghana would make good its resolve to contribute to the overall development of "this great country". CAP President Issa Hayatou extolled the commitment of Globacom for sponsoring the award over the years. This is the seventh time our loyal partner. Globacom are sponsoring the event that ultimately promotes excellence as far as the African game is concerned. The commitment of Globacom to the rise of African football can never be underestimated judging by die huge resources put into the organization of the annual Awards Gala," the CAP President added.