By Adisa Gbadamosi
In terms
of the cause of poor
electricity supply ravaging the nation
presently a blunt statement from the the office of the
Minister of Power, Works and Housing , Mr.
Raji Fashola, provided an answer. The
statement which was issued by one of his aides stated that it was
immoral to expect the Federal government to
blame electricity distribution companies
called Discos for the poor electricity
supply in the nation.
The
Power Minister was responding
proactively to the news that the
House of Representatives had invited
him and stakeholders in the electricity industry for a
meeting to explain the cause of
power failure in the country. The
press statement was therefore
meant to apprise the legislators
before he showed up in
the House for grilling on the
subject . In effect the Minister
killed the proverbial two birds
with one stone. He answered the
question of the legislators from afar as it
were. He also allayed
their fears also at
a safe distance on the
mistaken notion that the Discos
were the culprit of the poor power supply experienced in the
country .
Let me state
clearly as a keen observer of
the power sector and its development that the
pronouncements and statement of the
Minister is candid, informed and
most patriotic.
In particular, I
urge our law makers to emulate
these virtues even as they grandstand to
nail perceived culprits for the
poor supply even though
the cause is well known
to all Nigerians except perhaps
our legislators and trade union
leaders . The Minister’s statement pointed
out some facts .The first was that pipeline
vandalisation had disrupted and decreased
electricity supply massively
nation wide and power generation ,
and transmission had suffered
massively and such distribution
had been scanty all over the nation .
