By Stella Odueme
The Federal Government has blamed past administrations for the neglect in the nation’s power sector, saying it is laying a solid foundation for a stable, reliable, and effective power supply for Nigeria.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who stated this when he hosted the World Bank delegation in his office in Abuja,
blamed the neglect of the sector by past administrations for the rot and the degeneration that the sector is passing through.
In a statement by his
Special Adviser on Strategic Communications and Media Relations,
Bolaji Tunji on Thursday, the minister noted that there has been significant improvement since President Tinubu took over.
“We actually have a past that we are not proud of. Over the years, we have only been paying lip service to transforming the power sector. We have not worked the talk. Previous administrations have kept on doing the same thing all the time and you cannot get different results for that, which is why we have decided to do things differently this time. In all the segments across the sector, we must run away from the past.
The Minister lamented the neglect of power infrastructure, which has contributed to the present problems in the sector.
“How will you explain the kind of infrastructure that we put together for our transmission network across the country? Thousands of kilometers of power line, thousands of power transformers, hundreds of thousands of distribution transformers that we have not maintained over time and expect them to keep sustaining our energy supply. It is not possible.
“How do we allow our people to be vandalizing infrastructure and expect stable electricity? So how do you have a sector with over 12 million customers and our meter is not more than six million and we expect to have a stable industry? No, it’s not possible. So what has happened with past governments?
“In 1984, when the military was in power here, we achieved a 2000 megawatts. Between 1984 and 2023, it took us 40 years to add additional 2000 megawatts. Now we have an average of 5,800 megawatts generation within one and a half years that we came to the office. What I’m saying is that, if the past administrations have been adding things like this, we will not be where we are today. And that is why I said that President Tinubu is actually laying the kind of foundation that we need for our country to grow”.
“We entered into Siemens contract since 2019. We never lifted a finger until 2023, when this government came on board. So you can now imagine since this President came in and now look at the mileage we have achieved. Even in this Siemens project, the pilot phase is almost completed and that is in less than two years, when in four years we didn’t do anything”,
The Minister acknowledged the support of the Bretton Woods institution for its support.
“ I want to thank you for the support, for the interest you have shown in the development of Nigeria power sector. It’s been of immense value to us. And I can imagine without the World Bank, how the sector would have looked like. So we really appreciate what you are doing for us.
“We’ve seen your support in transmission, we’ve seen your support in distribution, we have seen your support in renewable energy, almost in every facet, even in generation.”
