Babatunde Fashola, minister of
power, works and housing, has reacted to claims by electricity distribution
companies (DisCos) that he misled Nigerians on power generation capacity.
Sunday Oduntan, executive
director, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the umbrella
body of DisCos, had said the federal government lied about an improvement in
power generation.
In a statement on Friday, Fashola
said Nigerians can testify to the upswing in electricity in the past few years.
The minister said he does not
recognise Oduntan or ANED, adding that if DisCos connect with consumers, they
would realise that service delivery is poor.
The statement read in part:
“Before fiction becomes fact for lack of a response, I feel obliged to respond
to some, not all of the allegations credited to one Sunday Oduntan who presents
himself as executive director, research and advocacy of the Association of
Electricity Distributors (ANED), which he made in response to my directives to
NERC (the regulator) and BPE/NBET as contracting parties to the DisCos.
“Throughout my press statement
which contained the directives, I referred copiously to the provisions of the
Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) which is the law that regulates the
power sector. I referred to DisCos in their capacities as licensees.
“Oduntan should tell members of
the public if ANED is a licensee. He should tell the public whether he is an
investor in a DisCo and in which DisCo he has invested and what he invested.
“He should tell members of the
public that I walked him out of our monthly meeting because he has no capacity
to attend and he was not invited. If ANED is not a licensee, who is ANED? An
NGO? If so, they should listen to consumers because nothing is going on about
poor service.
“However to suggest therefore
that my directives were political, turns reality on its head; because for the
past 20 months, in all my public briefings at monthly meetings with the DisCos,
these same issues of service delivery of meters, estimated billings, investment
in distribution equipment by DisCos have dominated my remarks.
“I do not recognise him because
the law that guides my functions does not recognise him. His statement that no
directives from me will save the power sector from collapse, is consistent with
the views of someone who has no skin in the game.
“As for the allegation that
figures of power generation and distribution released by me are not true, the
taste of the pudding lies with those who eat it. Electricity consumers know what
their experience was in 2015, 2016, 2017 and today.
“If the DisCos connect with their
consumers, they will hear from them first-hand, how traumatised they feel about
load shedding, absence of meters and estimated billing.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIs it not this same Fashola that increased electricity tariffs when National Assembly said he shouldn't? Abeg park well.
ReplyDelete