By Oluseye Ojo
The Federal Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, is ready to crush power saboteurs that have not allowed stable and regular electricity to work in the country.
Minister of Power. Chief Adebayo Adelabu, made the disclosure on Monday , which’s the first day of his two-day official working visit to Oyo State to inspect power infrastructures, and hold meetings with strategic stakeholders towards ensuring systematic improvement in power generation, transmission, and distribution, as well as areas of collaboration between the Federal Government, the state.
The visit took the minister to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Ayede Sub Station, Ibadan; head office of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) at Capital Building Moshood Abiola Way, where he was received by the Managing Director of the company, Kingsley Achife, and his management team, as well as the Governor’s Office in Ibadan, where he was hosted by Governor Seyi Makinde. He also visited 132 KV TCN sub station at Oluewu in Oyo, as well as two sub stations in Ogbomoso on Monday during the working visit.
At all the visited places, Adelabu articulated the resolve of President Tinubu to fix the issue in the power sector in the country, saying: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is resolved to fix the issues in the power sector. So, we have the backing of Mr. President to ensure that power sector works in this country. We will ensure stable power supply.
“We will not spare saboteurs in power sector. The saboteurs will not be happy that Mr. President has decided to fix the power sector. But whether they like it or not, Mr. President will fulfil the electoral promise on provision of stable, reliable, functional and uninterrupted power.”
Adelabu stated further that the responsibility of the electricity distribution companies (DISCOS) of Nigeria to provide transformers as well as electric poles and cables for communities across the 36 states in the country, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
His words: “It is the responsibility of the distribution companies to provide transformers, cables and poles to communities so that power supply can improve. A situation where communities buy transformers, cables and poles must stop. I know that you have these centres but how effective are they to ensure that customer complaints are attended to?
“As a minister, I don’t want to hear news of communities being asked to purchase electric transformers, cables and poles. If the consumers are paying for the electricity, then it is the responsibility of the distribution companies to provide these items because the will be billed for them.
“There must be improvement in power supply. That is what the government planned to do. People should not pay for darkness. When people have a 24-hour power supply, they can pay double for electricity because you have saved them the money to power generators.
“We don’t want to hear the news of communities buying transformers, cables and poles for themselves again. The Federal Government frowns at it. You see what we have done in Kaduna. Service to our people is paramount. It is the responsibility that Mr. President has placed on us.”
Adelabu also hinted about possible upward review of power tariff sometime this year, saying: “As it is today, the Federal Government still subsidises electricity because the current permit that you are allowed to charge is not cost reflective, which is why government spent close to N700billion in 2023 to subsidise electricity.”
“If tarrif is left at this current rate, it is projected that the Federal Government will spend about N1.7trillion to subsidise electricity. And we all know that state of our economy today. Tne Federal Government cannot afford that. So, at a point in time during the year, there must be upward review of tariff in order to reduce the amount of subsidy required.
Governor Seyi Maakinde, in his response said the state is taking advantage of the Electricity Regulations Law 2023 to generation electoral to power the state government secretariat, the hospitals, schools, and judiciary. He said the law has been domesticated in the state, adding that the bill has been passed into law by the House of Assembly and he woul sign it into law either this week or next week.