Funsho Balogun
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola made it known in Abuja on Monday at the maiden meeting with power generation, transmission and distribution companies and other stakeholders of the power sector that henceforth, business and activities in the industry must be conducted in tune with a new agenda. The fresh agenda tailored towards driving efforts to improve power supply in the country involves continuous public engagement on tariff collection, debts, power generation, maintenance, ancillary services, dispatch orders and discipline.
Fashola noted that to ensure effective monitoring and performance in the power sector, issues of gas requirement and constraints, transmission problems, imbalance (particularly the locations of excess), service quality, overload safety, franchising and other relevant matters must be continuously addressed to seek solutions that would be promptly effected.
Henceforth, monthly meetings involving GENCOs, DISCOS and all other stakeholders in the sector will be held where decisions made would be binding on all the stakeholders across the country. It is expected that these companies would be each be represented by a management member given the authority to take decisions on behalf of their companies. Towards ensuring the affordability of the cost of the meetings, Fashola stated that the stakeholders involved should merge resources.
After each meeting, a communiqué is to be issued on steps taken to address challenges in the sector.