Power Minister, Facts Don’t Lie

As has become the bane of governance in Nigeria, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has willy-nilly walked nto a quick sand and is struggling to grab what whatever ever he can before he gets consumed. With next to nothing to show for his over six months in office, and no clear, discernible path way for a sustainable future for the power sector, the former CBN deputy governor is grabbing at anything in sight and brandishing same as his achievement thus far.

Of course one can understand such desperation. The minister knows quite well that perhaps his time will soon be up! His principal is turning the heat on non performing ministers and other appointees to either shape up or ship out. With the launch of the monitoring platform by the office of the special adviser to the president on policy and coordination where citizens are expected to access and score government office holders on their performance, Adelabu knows there is no hiding place.

This can only explain why Adelabu can blatantly attempt to hoodwink Nigerians by taking credit for projects executed by his predecessors. Even worse is his effort at trying to rubbish all the hard work put in by persons before him who worked tirelessly to move the power sector forward.

While on a media round last week, the minister tried to pull the wool over the eyes of discerning Nigerians by claiming that nothing had been done to actualize the Zungeru power project when as a matter of fact, the project had indeed seen the light of day long before he came into office.

These are the facts!
Recently, the Minister of Power, Chief Adelabu, announced the completion and testing of the 700MW Zungeru Hydroelectric power plant. However, this milestone was actually achieved during the Buhari Administration.

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Under the control of NCC and with engineers from TCN, the Ministry, and Mainstream in attendance, the full load test of Zungeru HPP was successfully conducted on May 25, 2023, starting at 7 am through to 1 am on May 26, 2023. The plant achieved a peak capacity of 718MW and was stable, with all monitoring equipment producing results consistent with technical specifications.

The pending matter was the transfer of the asset to the preferred bidder, Penstock Ltd., a subsidiary of Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd, following the approval of NCP. It is therefore inconceivable for the current leadership in the Ministry of Power to state that the plant was recently completed and tested when it was successfully done in May 2023.

Perhaps Nigerians would have excused the minister with just one howler. The tragedy however is that he is going to great lengths to rewrite history. Remember the Presidential Power Initiative of the Buhari Administration? Well, Adelabu seem to have convinced himself that no progress was achieved before he came into office and wants Nigerians to believe that it is only now that the first phase of the project (10 power transformers and 10 mobile sub-stations) is being implemented.

But that is a clear misrepresentation of reality. Again, these are the facts.
It is well known that all the 10 power transformers and mobile substations were delivered during the last administration, with two of the power transformers already installed (one in Apo substation in Abuja and the other in Aja, Lagos).

My honest advice to Minister Adelabu who clearly seems out of his depths in evolving far reaching, holistic and innovative policies that can move the needle in the power sector is to beat a retreat from this destructive path. He must acknowledge and give credit for the good work done by others before him. He should then endeavour to build on such wins for the betterment of the sector and indeed the nation. After all, as the saying goes, facts don‘t lie.

– Nduka Chukunyere is a public affairs commentator based in Lagos