The Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Babatunde Fashola has stated that federal government is not
responsible for non availability of electricity.
Fashola disclosed this while
speaking at the Nextier Power Dialogue on Wednesday night in Abuja.
The minister, while acknowledging
that there were problems in the power sector, explained that it was not the
Federal Government’s problem if citizens in the country do not have
electricity, especially since the sector was privatised.
Fashola said, “There are problems
without a doubt and we must deal with them. But let me remind you, all of the
assets that the Ministry of Power used to control for power have been sold by
the last administration before I came. And so if you don’t have power, it is
not the government’s problem. Let us be honest.
“The people who are operating the
power sector, generation and distribution are now privately owned companies. I
am here because I am concerned. If your telephone is not working, it is not the
minister of communication that you go to. Let us be very clear.
“So for those of you who want to
weaponise electricity, face the businessmen who have taken it up. Let us be
honest. If your bank over-charges you interest, is it the minister of finance
you go to? So let’s be clear. This is now a private business by Act of
parliament 2005.
“My role is regulatory, oversight
and policy, but I have a problem which is the fact that I can’t see a problem
and turn my back, so I’m getting involved.
“So the people you should be
talking to about transformers is not me, the ministry doesn’t supply
transformers anymore.”
“I think that NERC (Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission) is the referee of the game. I am FIFA
(Federation of International Football Association). And it is not right as you
said that FIFA gets involved, because whether the referee makes a mistake or
not the goal stands.
“So the FIFA man does not enter
the field to say go and change the result, but it’s an interesting analogy that
I’ve also contemplated in my head and that’s why you didn’t catch me by too
much surprise.
“However, it is important to
allow the referee to continue to decide the game because investors like to know
who decides.”
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