Fashola: FG, Stakeholders Working To Solve Power Supply Challenges
Debunks report claiming Fashola absolved FG of power supply blames
Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing (right) and an Electricity Power Plant.
The Minister of Power, Works and housing Babatunde Fashola has said that Federal Government is working assiduously with various stakeholders in the Power Sector to solve the challenges hindering power supply especially along the Generation and Distribution value chain of the sector.
Recall that some national dailies stories on the remarks made by the Minister at a Media event, alleging he had on Wednesday, absolved the Federal Government of any blame in the challenges confronting power supply in the country at the monthly Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja.
However, to set the records straight, Fashola noted in a statement issued on Friday by Hakeem Bello, Special Adviser, to the minister, that the government has, through several policy initiatives since inception and, especially in the last few months, demonstrated its commitment to the enhancement of power generation and distribution.
Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing
Throwing more light on the remarks he made at the Nextier Dialogue, Fashola, recalled that the remark was in response to a specific question posed by a participant during the Interactive Session concerning the supply of transformers.
He reiterated that all the assets previously controlled by the Ministry of Power have been sold by the last administration and pointed out that the people now operating the Generation and Distribution segments of power sector are privately owned companies.
The Minister, who noted that his role was more of policy making, pointed out that Government’s intervention in the sector was because of its concern adding that there was need for consumers to be well enlightened on solving transformer supply issues as “The Ministry does not supply transformer anymore”.
He, however, added “Government would not separate itself from the problem and, as I said at the Dialogue, I am trying to get involved to do what the law allows me to do”.
The Minister, who expressed dismay at the propensity of some sections of the Nigerian Media to sensationalize issues, recalled his reference to the 3rd Quarter Report of the National Bureau of Statistics, at the same Dialogue, which revealed that Electricity made the highest contribution of 18 per cent to the 1.8 per cent growth in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) wondering how many newspapers and social media platforms reported that aspect.
He also recalled the appreciation visit of the Gora Community of Nasarawa State to his office earlier in the week to express their gratitude to the Federal Government over the provision of Solar Power to their Community.
He noted that testimonies to the growth in electricity supply and increase in accessibility to the rural communities should make headlines in the media instead of deliberate representation of facts.
He cited the recent approval of a N72 Billion Distribution Expansion Programme by the government as a clear demonstration of that commitment adding that the Government, as a 40 per cent shareholder, had to make the approval in order to enhance the distribution of power across the country.
He pointed out that although operationally there is 7,000 Megawatts of electricity ready for deployment, the operation was still constrained at the distribution end.
The Minister said the concern of government was to correct the anomaly by working with Distribution companies (DisCos) and obtaining data to enable the DisCos maximally evacuate available power for distribution to consumers.
He said although power has been privatised, Government was still playing a leading role in both enhancing the distribution of grid electricity and increasing access to electricity across the country at very reasonable costs and without exploitation.
Recalling the policy outline laid by his Ministry at inception to achieve uninterrupted power, Fashola declared, “I think that if you followed the policy outline that set out that roadmap, we have delivered what we promised in terms of our first leg of incremental power. We have increased the power on all sides”.
He said other policies initiated by the government in recent times to drive access to electricity, the Minister said, include the Mini-Grid/Off-Grid policy, Eligible Customer Policy and Meter Asset Provider (MAP) which are subject to NERC regulation and aids distribution of power.
On the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) of the administration, Fashola said the PSRP was a document that sought to articulate all of the problems including generation, transmission, energy theft and tariff issues among others.
“All the problems that were in the Sector we sat down and documented them as a programme. Everything that we learnt was a problem, we took it down as the Power Sector Recovery Programme. And then we proposed solutions to each problem and we assigned a department, Ministry, Agency of Officer who was responsible for solving a particular problem,” he said.
On the involvement of the World Bank, Fashola explained, “As we were doing it, the World Bank wrote to us and said we had to undertake reforms in this Sector to make it work and when we presented what we were undertaking to them, they said “what we were going to recommend to you was not as extensive as what you have agreed voluntarily to undertake yourself. If you are going to do this then we will put money behind it”.
The Minister, however, said PSRP was not all about the World Bank loan adding, “The World Bank loan is just a component of the PSRP. We couldn’t reach a conclusive negotiation because some Departments felt that additional provisions had to be made. That was a sticky point”.
According to Fashola, “World Bank alone doesn’t have all the money that we need. So addressing the liquidity problem is coming through; it does not mean that PSRP is not working. Indeed it has delivered and that is indeed why I could report today that we had an 18 per cent growth contribution to the GDP. It is because the PSRP is working.
The Minister said Transmission now has a 10-Year Expansion Plan just as 3,000 Megawatts have since been added to what was on ground when the administration took over. He said the new big problem that has now emerged was that of how to sell what has been generated.
Recalling that when he took office there was a view that the privatization was not working and should be cancelled, Fashola, who advised that cancelling contracts would not benefit the country, declared, “PSRP is working, Transmission is improving, there is still Energy theft issue, there is no plan or document that is cast in stone.
“And we expect that at a time, we would sit down, take off what we have done and write a second edition and move on”, he said.
