From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has opened up about the plane crash incident that occurred on Friday at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport in Ibadan, Oyo State, in which he was onboard with some of his aides.
He revealed that his decision to prioritise his national duties over personal interests, made him to use his personal money to charter a private plane, which was imvolved in the crash.
Speaking to reporters on Monday as he resumed his duties at the Ministry of Power, Adelabu explained that he had left Abuja on Friday Novemver 3, 2023, for an important appointment in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, where a 2 X 60MVA, 132/33KVA transmission Station was set to be commissioned last Saturday morning.
He added that he had plans to join Governor Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos State in commissioning the Oyingbo overpass of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit route on Sunday as well.
Adelabu, in a statement made available to Daily Sun in Ibadan by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, explained that he had to hire the private plane in order to meet up with the task slated for last Saturday, due to a ministerial retreat with President Bola Tinubu, in Abuja, which ended late on Friday,
Accordijg to him, he had to personally pay for a private jet to transport him to Ibadan. However, the journey took a horrifying turn when the aircraft crash-landed. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, and Adelabu expressed gratitude for the concern shown by those who reached out to him.
Adelabu, however, made it clear that his focus remains on his mandate to boost power supply in the country. He assured everyone that the incident would not deter him from achieving this objective and emphasised his commitment to improving Nigeria’s power sector.
“You will recall that we had a ministerial retreat with Mr President till late Friday evening. However, due to the prior appointment in Ogbomoso, Oyo State I had to personally pay for a private jet to convey us to Ibadan from the Villa where the retreat was held in order to meet the Saturday and Sunday’s appointments.
“We thank the Almighty God that the incident was not more than that, however, we have a mandate from the President to boost power supply in the country, we should not let anything deter us from that objective. You can all see that I am in the office to resume for work. That is what matters and in the next few weeks, Nigerians will see further improvements in power supply.”
He noted that since his appointment as Minister of Power, he has actively engaged with various stakeholders in the industry to address the challenges hindering progress. He acknowledged the lack of significant improvement in the sector despite substantial government investments in the past, and stressed the importance of delivering a focused strategy to enhance power supply.
“You all know that I am not the first Minister to be appointed in this Ministry, we have had a lot of prominent Nigerians holding forth here. the question to then ask is ; why have we not had any significant improvement in the sector? We do not want to go the same way, we want to know what the challenges are and these have been identified. We are interested in delivery – focussed strategy to boost power supply,” he said.
Adelabu announced plans to organise a retreat before the end of the year, which shall bring together key industry players and serve as a platform to identify steps that must be taken to boost power supply.