The Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, in Ibadan, Oyo State, at the first Annual Socio-Economic Summit organised by Jericho Business Club, said, “My agenda to provide 24 hours electricity for Nigerians is still on course and intact. Our people have suffered so much in terms of energy poverty.”
The minister explained that past governments have tried to solve the hydra-headed monster in the power sector, but ineffective measures and plans have rendered their policies useless.
“Our mandate is to ensure that we do what we are supposed to do for steady and effective electricity supply. The problems with the power sector are numerous. The Generating Sector has its own problem, the Electricity Distribution Companies have their own challenges and the consumers are also facing problems, I mean the households.
“What we have done is to identify these challenges and map out strategies for enduring and workable solutions. For example, with the customers, we have a huge metre gap because a lot of households and businesses have no metre. Without metre, you cannot bill, sustain and collect revenues. We are trying to reduce the metre gap to ensure that every household or business has a metre.
“We are also working on stronger and effective legislation to ensure that all theft and vandalisation of power assets by anybody becomes a thing of the past. When you destroy the transmission lines and power cables, you will quickly face the wrath of laws. We want to fast track trials of power thieves and vandals to urgently serve as deterrent to others criminals.”
