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The Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said on Friday night that the
prescription for recession in Nigeria had been in place for more than
three years.
The ‘super minister’ added that power generation in Africa’s most populous country has improved in the last one year.
Fashola, accompanied by the minister of
state in the ministry, Mustapha Shehuri, and its top officials, spoke at
a media briefing to commemorate his first year in office.
He noted that when workers were being
retrenched and the purchasing power of an average citizen eroded, as had
been the case since 2013, these were obviously signs of recession.
He, however, expressed the hope that the
Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was on the road to making Nigerians
smile once again.
Fashola said that electricity generation
in Nigeria has improved considerably in the last 12 months, peaking at
above 5074MW for the first time in the nation’s 63-year-old electricity
history earlier this year.
He said this has created jobs for hitherto idle artisans, small and medium scale entrepreneurs and empowered other businesses.
He noted that the more than 800
containers of imported power generation and distribution components
stranded at the ports for between three and eight years, have been
released.
He regretted that about 3000MW of
electricity was lost to vandalism, adding, however, that the Federal
Government was discussing with agitators in order to put an end to the
destruction.
Fashola said electricity generation
would continue to appreciate as more stations come on stream and
contribute to the national grid.
The minister appealed to electricity
consumers to be patient with distribution companies over insufficient
prepaid meters, noting that the pprivatisationof the sector was only
three years old.
He said that the meters would soon be readily available as more companies embark on their production in Nigeria.
Source: NAN
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