The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has blamed the unsuccessful story of the nation’s Power sector on poor monitoring and supervisory roles by past Administrations.
The Minister however says, the President Bola Tinubu led Administration is already on the path of recovery to ensure improved and stable Electricity supply in the country.
Chief Adelabu stated this when the Senate Committee Chairman on Power, Senator Eyinaya Abaribe led other Members on an oversight visit to the Federal Ministry of Power and the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN in Abuja.
Due to the recent happenings in the nation’s Power sector and by the statutory provisions of Legislative duties, the Senate Committee on Power made a visit to the Federal Ministry of Power in Abuja on an oversight function where the Committee Members were received by the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu.
The Senate Committee Chairman on Power, Senator Eyinaya Abaribe whose address at the meeting was very brief said, the visit became necessary for the National Assembly to have first hand information on the issues hindering Power Generation and Distribution, Contractual Agreements and the Convention Plan for the Power sector.
Senator Abaribe pointed out that, despite being invited to appear before the Senate Committee on Power next Monday, the Minister had the obligation to brief the Committee on core areas of operations of the Ministry.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu while briefing Members of the Committee highlighted some of the issues affecting the sector to include poor Policy implementation plan, the lack of supervision and inadequate Funding of the Power sector in the past which he acknowledged were the major issues impeding effective Electricity supply in the country.
Chief Adelabu added, that investment into the Power sector was not encouraging and that those who were already in the business were lagging behind hence, deliberate steps were being taken to address the situation.
From the Federal Ministry of Power, the Senate Committee also made a stop at the Office of the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN which is on the same building with the Ministry.
The MD of TCN, Alhaji Sule Abdulazeez while presenting the scorecard of the Company to the Senate Committee on Power said, the constraints limiting the Company from meeting up with its expectations were Funding and Legal issues.
Addressing Correspondents after the engagement, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Eyinaya Abaribe agreed no less, that the challenges in the nation’s Power sector were enormous but that the National Assembly was poised to provide the needed tools for the work to be done for the sake of Nigerians.
Other Members of the Senate Committee on Power including a former Minister of Power, Senator Danjuma Goje and former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Simon Lalong in separate remarks expressed their concerns but however, agreed that the Power sector needed to be fixed for the growth of the Nation’s Economy and for the benefit of the Populace.
