Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola
Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, on Monday advised people in the Niger Delta region against “anger of fight” but to embrace “anger of engagement”.
He urged them to positively engage government to address their grievances.
Fashola spoke at the 12th Monthly Power Sector and Stakeholders Meeting in Ibadan.
The minister said dialogue remained a better option than continued acts of vandalism of public property.
“Their anger should not be anger of fight but anger of engagement, engage the government reasonably, not angrily, engage them productively not in a negative way,” he advised.
He stated that the country’s power generation could return to 3,000 megawatts once the vandals stopped their activities.
As stated by him, the power sector must show result this 2017 and that is the reason the government is reaching out for peace in the region so that we can tackle the issue of vandalism.
Fashola gave the assurance that 3,000 megawatts would be energised and restored to the national grid if the Excravos pipeline was repaired, in addition to the “3,500 megawatts we have already and making it 6,500 megawatts”.
He called on DISCOs to as quickly as possible, make rapid deployment of meters, and noted that consumers still felt that they were getting the wrong end of the stick through the estimated billing method.
Fashola stated that he would continue to stand on the side of consumers as they had the right to have meter and DISCOs have the obligation to provide it.
The minister urged the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to involve members of the public, state and local governments as well as traditional rulers and community organizations in what they were doing.
As stated by him, only by this can people understand that somebody is actually taking a step to solve a problem.
The CEO of the company, Mr John Donnachie, in his remarks, promised improved electricity supply.
He stated that IBEDC was working tirelessly to perform up to expectation despite challenges facing the company.