Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said the administration of President Bola Tinubu cannot fix the 50 years of power sector challenges in one year.
Adelabu made the comment during an interviewe on Channels Television on Thursday, noting that government is making consistent and gradual progress towards solving the power sector’s challenges.
His statement comes amid the recent announcement by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC of a hike in electricity tariff for customers under Band A.
“The problem we are having is an accumulated problem of over 50 years; it will not disappear in one year, but we’ve been making consistent and gradual progress”, he said.
Adelabu had also apologised to Nigerians for criticising those who keep their freezers and air conditioners on when they are not home.
But when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the minister tendered an apology and explained that he had no intention to insult anyone.
Adelabu said; “It was never intended to insult the sensibility of Nigerians. Sincerely, if you watch that video very well, I never said people should switch off their freezers.
“It was actually an innocent advice with regards to energy consumption management which we believe will go a long way in reducing people’s energy bills.
“And that advice was actually directed to those we believe because of the recent increase in tariff that start enjoying 20 to 22 hours of power supply. What I said was that the fact that the electricity tariff for Band A, which is 15 percent of electricity consumers, would increase by over 200 percent does not necessarily translate to 200 percent of their electricity bills if power is managed in terms of consumption.
“But the example of the freezer, well, may not have gone down well with majority of Nigerians and I’ll say oh, sorry about that. It was never my intention to insult anybody.
“It was just out of my passion and eagerness to see that we make a change in the sector which has suffered a lot of setback for some years… in fact, the example I gave there were the air conditioners.
“A lot of people leave them on while they’re still not in the room. Sincerely, it was passed across jokingly. It was just a comical illustration and never intended to insult anybody. So, to Nigerians who felt offended by the statement I say sorry, forgive us. This is our country.”
