By BASHIR ADEFAKA
“The meters production started in 2003 but they had to take themselves to court. President Buhari, when he came in 2015, saw all of that and went to take the matter from court and he has been able to resolve the issues. Today we have N39 billion on ground for meters production but the President has directed that it must be handled not by government but private sector. And that is on,” Fashola submitted.
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), has expressed hope that the tomorrow of Nigeria will be better and brighter than today as far as electricity generation and supply are concerned.
Fashola said the country’s electricity project under President Muhammadu Buhari was now better today than it was yesterday adding that the Next Level agenda of the President is to make it better tomorrow than today.
He said “when President Buhari came to office in 2015, power generation was at 2,600 megawatts distributable, but today, distributable power is at 5,000 megawatts although what in reality has been generated but DisCos have no equipment to pick up for distribution in total is 7,000 megawatts.”
Minister Fashola, who was fielding questions on NTA Yoruba, a product of StarTimes Cable Network Tuesday night, said more investors were already coming into the country to join in power generation with a view to adding more capacity to what was on ground.
Asked what government had done to improve on power so Nigerians would stop crying of power failure, the Minister disagreed saying, “today under President Buhari, Nigerians are no longer complaining of power failure.”
He however told his broadcasting host that what Nigerians complain about is lack of prepaid meter, asking if there was no power, Nigerians would have nothing to do with the meters they seek.
“Let me ask you. How do you see power supply in your area now? You tell me first. In my own area, power today is far better than what it was yesterday and tomorrow of power under Buhari’s government will be better than today just like today has been better than yesterday,” Fashola said.
The Minister however urged Nigerians to support the President to enable him achieve his good and great plans for them and the country.
He said President Buhari had moved steps ahead of the people demanding for prepaid meters as, according to him, he had finally succeeded in tackling complications in meter production that was started in 2003 and which since that time had become a matter of litigation.
“The meters production started in 2003 but they had to take themselves to court. President Buhari, when he came in 2015, saw all of that and went to take the matter from court and he has been able to resolve the issues.
“Today we have N39 billion on ground for meters production but the President has directed that it must be handled not by government but private sector. And that is on,” Fashola submitted.
Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who spoke in clear Yoruba tongue, was also asked about the Mambila Power Project to which he responded now has been resolved after 40 years of initiation.
“No. Mambila Power Project is not 30 years old but more than that. I was nine years old when that project started and now I am going to be 60. But that one too has been tackled by President Buhari and all papers regarding the Mambila Power Project have been sorted out and made ready,” he said.
The Minister was not to talk only on his areas of ministerial jurisdiction as his interviewer also made him speak on security situation in the country.
“Security situation is not Nigerian thing alone but global phenomenon. What you see about kidnapping and others are purely indication of change that has pervaded the world today. What were young they used to tell us things like that including kidnapping. So, it has always been like that except that, due to change in the world, it is increasing and the government of Nigeria is not resting on its oars about it,” he assured.
