As Nigerians raise concerns about the 78 per cent electricity tariff hike even without proportionate improvement in power supply, the minister of power Mr. Saleh Mamman has blamed the cabal in his ministry for inefficient electricity supply.
He stated this yesterday while reacting to the criticism which trailed his suspension of some top officials in the ministry.
He had suspended the former managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Damilola Ogunbiyi, former managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), and the managing director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), Ms. Marilyn Amobi pending investigation into allegations levelled against them.
In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Aaron Artimas issued in Abuja, the minister said there is no proportionate power supply for the huge amount of money that the federal government has spent in the power sector.
He explained that the removal of Ogunbiyi and Amobi was meant to sanitise the power sector.
The minister denied that his action had any ethnic connotation.
“All right-thinking Nigerians are aware that since assuming Power in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari has poured billions of Naira and attracted huge foreign investments into the power sector with the aim of improving the generation and distribution of electricity to Nigerians.
“Nigerians should be asking why there was not much improvement in the sector after such concerted efforts by the government and not to encourage “wailers” to sulk over public officers who had been in the ministry for over four years without tangible results.
“At this level of National development, we should be thinking of performance instead of promoting trivial or extraneous sentiments on the pretext of criticizing government actions. Many Nigerians are not unaware of the squabbling and unfortunate infighting affecting the two agencies as well as other alleged infractions.
“This obviously affected their performance in impacting the entire industry. No responsible leadership will tolerate such chaotic situation and expect success on the ultimate goal of improving power in the country.”
Artimas said the minister had no particular interest in any particular appointment in the ministry other than to put square pegs in square holes for maximum results.
“Those talking about changes and appointments are merely engaged in idle talks,” he stated.
He recalled that on assumption of office, the minister was “never under any illusions that his job was going to be a walk in the garden.
Soon after, we began to hear of a cabal which held the ministry by the throat and denying Nigerians the full value of their huge investments in the Power sector.
“As early as November last year, this cabal began to sponsor insidious reports using some faceless groups in Lagos, claiming that ‘the Ministry of Power was failing under the new minister.’
“It is the same “untouchables” who want to perpetuate themselves in power that are now resisting any form of re-organisation meant to re-position the ministry for optimum performance.
“The ministry should not be tied down by individuals whose only concern is the retention of power at the expense of service delivery.
“Ironically, the same cabal which earlier attacked the minister in another sponsored story for ‘not properly coordinating the ministry” is now condemning the minister for daring to level up matters and streamlining the ministry’s activities for effective and efficient management.
“Indeed, one of the factors affecting the maximum performance of the ministry of power is lack of proper integration and coordination by its agencies in order to subordinate them to the ministry for easy management.
“This is one of the flaws being tackled by the minister which is bound to create grievances, from people afraid of losing something in the exercise,” he added.
