No explosion at Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Station – Police

The Police Command in Niger State, has debunked online media reports of an explosion at the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Station.

SP Wasiu Abiodun, spokesperson of the Command, disclosed on Monday in Minna, that the news of the purported explosion was fake.

He said there was no case of explosion at the Zungeru dam as reported by some online media and urged the general public to disregard such reports.

“We wish to state that there is no incident of any kind of explosion at Zungeru dam as reported by some online media. We urge members of the public to kindly disregard such report,” he said.

Some online media had carried a story of an alleged explosion at Zungeru hydro power dam in the early hours of Monday, July 1. They alleged that several workers sustained varying degrees of injuries and were receiving treatment in Minna.

Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Station is a 700 megawatts (940,000 hp) hydroelectric power plant under construction in Niger State, Nigeria.

When completed, the dam will be the second-largest hydroelectric power station in the country, behind the 760 megawatts (1,020,000 hp) Kainji Hydroelectric Power Station.

No explosion in Zungeru Power plant – Adelabu

Mr Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, has said that no explosion occurred at Zungeru power plant on Monday.

A statement by Mr Bolaji Tunji, Special Adviser, Strategic Communications and Media Relations, on Monday in Abuja said that the minister was reacting to some social media platforms that an explosion occurred at Zungeru power plant.

Tunji quoted the minister as saying that the report of an explosion was a figment of the imagination of the purveyors of such information.

According to the Minister, the Zungeru power plant is on the grid and the plant is running at optimum capacity.

“I have spoken with the Managing Director of Mainstream Energy and I can assure you that nothing of such took place in Zungeru.

”The plant is working and it continues to supply to the grid. We have video evidence from Zungeru that nothing like that occurred today and whoever is interested should go there to find out.

”It is rather unfortunate that people will sit down somewhere and cook up this sort of story. It is unpatriotic; such people should desist from creating unnecessary panic.”

The minister assured Nigerians of adequate supply of energy.

“We have seen the worst in the sector, we can only get better. We promised incremental supply of power and that is what is happening now and that’s why we have the present improvement and it will continue,” the Minister assured.