Erratic power delivery: Minister begs Nigerians

Posted by admin Latest Politics Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

Minister of Power, Prof Bart Nnaji has appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the Federal Government in its efforts to fix the power sector. The minister, who made the appeal in Lagos on Monday during a press briefing on the activities of his ministry in ensuring a stable power supply in the country, assured that the stage was set for a positive change in the sector.

He said he was deeply concerned and regretted the erratic power supply which Nigerians in both domestic and industrial sectors have experienced in recent time.

“The Ministry of Power is deeply concerned about the recent experiences of Nigerians with reference to the erratic delivery of power supply both for domestic and industrial uses. I want to use this press briefing forum to appeal to all Nigerians with all sense of responsibility and sincerity to bear with us, hereby on behalf of the entire sector give a solid assurance that the stage is set for a change and we shall all begin to see better days, months and unending years of stable power supply.

“I know that this will immediately arouse some scepticism in view of your previous experiences but I say unequivocally that this statement has a political will and support behind it in the person of our dear president, Dr Goodluck Jonthan.” the minister stated.
Professor Nnaji also charged Nigerians to rise up against the vandalization of power infrastructure in the country, adding that a situation where power line cables were used to make spoons and forks was crazy and condemnable.

He commended the president for his will power to see that the problem confronting the power sector was totally solved.
Explaining why there has been disruption in the sector, the minister said: “Perhaps I should mention why so much disruption has occurred in the sector. Without boring you, the major challenges have been inadequacy of gas, seasonal hydro-water shortages and to a lesser extent, inadequate human capacity and insufficient system synergy.”

He however explained that his ministry had developed three strategies to tackle the problem of power in the country. The three plans, according to the minister, are short-term, medium-term and long-term working plans.
The short-term plan would ensure that in the next two months, there would be moderately improved power supply and a renewed distribution model nationwide, while the country would witness completion and operation of some new power generating plants, transmission lines as well as a more developed distribution pattern in the next seven months.

The medium-term plan according to the minister, would cover the period between 2013 and 2015 and it would allow the privatization of the generating and distribution centres. This in turn, will give higher efficiency and input of high funding levels to increase power supply to the people.

The third plan, which according the minister will be increased diversification into renewable energy sources, will also cover the periods between 2015 and 2020.
The minster also said that apart from the problems stated above, there were so many interests in the power sector that want the status quo to remain because of the financial benefits they were getting, but added that Mr President’s will power to effect a change in the sector has been a driving force for him and his ministry.
Reacting to agitations of the electricity workers against privatisation of the sector, he said: “The president gave out a whopping N57billion to offset the arrears of salaries of electricity workers. That has been done. The workers asked for 50 percent increase in salary.

The president has also done that. They also demanded that about 11, 000 casual staff in the sector be converted to permanent staff. We insisted on biometric data to know who is a casual worker and we are through with that. About 10, 000 casual workers that were successful in the biometric data exercise would soon be converted to full permanent staff. So, the workers need to look forward into the future and see how they could be very competent so that whatever happens, their services would still be needed instead of insisting that things continue the way they are.”
The minister reiterated that it was the government’s responsibility to provide transformers to communities within the network operation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), and advised people to make their request through the approved channel. He said the advice was to avoid a situation where people complain that they pay for their transformers and cables; a development he condemned.

-Sunwp_posts