Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power has said that boosting the power supply in the country, is a priority for his administration in line with the mandate of the Bola Tinubu-led administration, adding that in the next few weeks, Nigerians will see further improvements in power supply.
The minister stated this in Abuja while addressing journalists as regards the Friday incident in which an aircraft operated by Flint Aero crash-landed at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport, Ibadan, Oyo State. This he said was a result of his desire to prioritise national assignment over personal interest.
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He said he had an appointment to visit the soon-to-be-commissioned 2 X 60MVA, 132/33KVA transmission Station in Ogbomoso, Oyo State on Saturday morning and to also join the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu to commission the Oyingbo overpass of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) route on Sunday.
“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 to meet the Saturday and Sunday 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, and we should not let anything deter us from that objective. You can all see that I am in the office to resume work. That is what matters and in the next few weeks, Nigerians will see further improvements in power supply.”
Read also:You have big challenges ahead, Olubadan tells Adelabu
The minister said since his appointment, he has seized the opportunity to engage the various stakeholders such as the generating and distribution companies and other related organisations in the power sector value chain to identify the issues impeding the sector despite the government’s huge investment in the sector.
“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 a delivery–focused strategy to boost power supply,” he said.
“Some of these stakeholders are the major operators in the industry and we must be all on the same page on the steps that must be taken to boost power supply.”
