The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Wednesday, pointed at the refusal of electricity consumers to pay their bills and energy theft as some of the factors limiting the growth of the power sector in the country.
The Minister who spoke in Abuja when he received members of the Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMICO), Civil Committee on Energy, also blamed the current challenges facing the sector on “past actions or inactions of past administrations”.
He however noted that steps taken by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in the past one year have placed the sector on the path of growth, stressing that transiting to a cost reflective tariff would lead to stable power supply.
According to him, “What we have seen in the power sector today is the reflection of the actions and inactions of past administrations. Over 60 years of our existence since independence, we have not done the right thing for the power sector.
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“Which is why as a nation of 220 million people, we are still running around 5,000 megawatts of power. It is shameful. South Korea, 49 million people, has 130,000 megawatts of power.”
Chief Adelabu noted that “three things that I feel that frustrate the modest achievements that we have today are, one, refusal of electricity consumers to pay their bills. There is nobody that wants to do a business and is not paid for the business. They will close shop.
“We hit 5,155 megawatts of power on the 9th of August. The highest in three years. We met around 4,000MW, even less than 4,000MW when we resumed. This is just a year. That’s about 27% increase.
“It’s quite commendable. But the only way is that it must be sustainable. Yes, so to sustain it, consumers must be ready to pay.
“Number two, power theft should be discouraged. And civil societies need to be sensitized that when you see something, you say something.
A lot of welders work over night. They just hang their wires at 12 midnight when everbody is sleeping. A lot of people bypass meters. All these will not serve the sector.
“And lastly is vandalization. We need to desist from it. Transmission lines, transformers and other power infrastructures are being vandalised daily. The police and other security agencies are trying but it is the people themselves that can protect these facilities. Yes. So we need to keep sensitizing them so that our assets will be protected”.
Earlier, the Leader Civil Military Cooperation (CIMICO) Civil Committee on Energy, Mr. Adams Otakwu harped on the need to protect power sector infrastructures as one of the ways to ensure energy security for the country.
He pointed out that Nigeria’s economic growth was dependent on adequate power supply.
He therefore pledged the groups support for the Federal Government’s effort to end power sector infrastructure vandalism and energy theft.
