Nigeria will soon be liberated from darkness to an uninterrupted power supply. August 11, 2013 Since he replaced Professor Barth Nnaji as Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo has struggled to reassure Nigerians that the steady march to stable electricity in the country will not betruncated. As a high performing university administrator, having risen to the top of the ladder in theacademia, Professor Nebo affirms he is equal to the task. In this interview, he paints an inspiring picture of a seamless transfer of the power business to the private sector within the next one month. Here are the excerpts of the very exciting interview: We heard so much about what youwere able to achieve as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, my alma mater… Are you a Lion? Wonderful. So, what has it been like, transforming from an academic and university administrator to a federal cabinet minister? Can you describe the atmosphere in the two worlds? Of course, initially it appeared to bevery daunting, simply because theyare two different terrains. The ivory tower has its own norms andidiosyncrasies. But the world of politics is totally different. The language is different. The aspirations are different, and the people are totally different. To come in from the academia to the cabinet, I wouldn’t say it is a cup oftea. The good thing is that the academia prepares people for the position of leadership and that is the critical role that I have to play in the Power sector. The leadershiptraining that I got starting from when I was a lecturer, became a professor, became a dean, became a deputy vice-chancellor and then vice-chancellor two times over. Really, it prepared me for the role of a federal level cabinet minister. It has been okay, even though one had to learn how to talk as a politician, and when you have factsto give, you have to give them in a politically correct manner so that you will not offend people you are not supposed to offend. So, one can say that the chair has turned the other way. As an academic, you were fond of blaming people in government andnow you will be blamed? That is correct. That’s very true. People have complained that since you took over as Minister of Power,the power supply situation has worsened. Do you think that is correct? That is a total misconception. One thing you need to know is that every year between March and May, we have the lowest water level in our rivers due to the weather situation and that reducespower delivery from the hydros. There are a lot of system collapses. At that time when the rains come and vegetation follows, there are a lot of disruption of transmission activities, and that affects the amount of power distributed. If there is any slippage, there will be interruptions in power interfaces. *Nebo There were many challenges and they are being surmounted. You can see that there already is an improvement in power supply. It isreally picking up now and many cities in the country can testify thatpower supply is actually picking up. There are many testimonies. The most recent was in Awka. People have been jubilating that for a couple of weeks now, Awka of all places, has experienced uninterrupted power supply. Kaduna is also experiencing that. The minimum in Abuja is about 18 hours a day. Some places in Abuja are getting 22 hours a day. We are passing through a cycle that is caused by natural phenomena, andwe are coming close to the end of that cycle. Power supply improvement is actually happeningnationally. That cycle you referred to is a vicious one. It happens every year. March, April and May are about the hottest months of the year. When people need light that is when it is at the lowest. When are we going to break that vicious cycle? Actually, it will soon happen. It is something that is not far-fetched. It is a question of planning and doing the right thing. I believe thatvery soon, that will be a thing of the past. With more power generation coming on and the strengthening of our transmission interface, there will be a lot more dependable power supply to the citizenry. The reason why people are so uptight at such periods is because a lot of people need air conditioning. When they go to their offices and they cannot get it because power is not available, they will be quite uncomfortable. But with more power generation, Iam anticipating from the end of this year, and from then upwards, Ibelieve that that will be taken care of. Are you saying that by March and April next year, the chances of breaking the vicious cycle are very high? The chances will be higher than what we have seen before. One of the major activities of the Ministry in recent times was the unbundling and sale of companies out of the Power Holding Companyof Nigeria (PHCN). How do you describe the process and what should Nigerians expect at the endof it? The government took a very bold, courageous step to privatise the Power sector, especially with regard to generation and distribution.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 05:42:27 +0000
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