The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, on Tuesday queried the role of the Power minister with respect to delivering electricity to households and businesses across the country.
Sanusi stated that while he was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he often asked people to tell him what the responsibility of the Power minister was.
This, he said, was due to the fact that virtually all arms of the electricity value chain had been taken away from the control of the minister.
The Emir stated these in a keynote address during a stakeholders’ workshop on Road Transport Management and Mass Transit Operations in Nigeria organised by the Federal Ministry of Transportation in Abuja.
He said, “Very often in this country, we do not give as much focus as we should to the organic link between the objectives, our strategies, processes, procedures and our results. And one example I’ve always given is the power sector in Nigeria. I used to ask this question that, ‘please what really is the Power minister responsible for?’ And it sounds like a silly question.
“But the truth is, I don’t know about now, but as of the time I was in government, could anyone legitimately hold the Power minister responsible for delivering power? The PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) was privatised by the Bureau of Public Enterprises; the Ministry of Petroleum Resources is responsible for gas; regulation and pricing is done by the NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission), which is an independent body.”
Sanusi added, “By the time you took out everything you need in power, the minister has nothing. He controls nothing. The Power minister cannot boast that I will deliver 1,000 megawatts because he can actually build a gas powered turbine and not have the gas. This is because the gas is under the control of a different ministry.
“Also, for hydro, the dams belong to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the sites around the dams belong to the state governments. The water turbines belong to the Ministry of Power, but if you want to use hydro, the Ministry of Power does not have the dams. The point I’m making is that one of the reasons why we’ve not made much improvement on power is due to a lack of coordinating mechanisms.”
The emir also stated that a similar situation could be seen in the transport sector, but urged stakeholders in the industry to form a forum from where activities in the sector would be coordinated in order to achieve meaningful results.
He said, “Now, I kind of think that we can have a similar problem with transport. We need to have some framework for coordination and harmonisation for a clear division of roles and responsibilities, and also for ensuring that everything is mainstreamed into one strategic objective. So, whoever is responsible for any part of the transportation chain should have a forum where you come and coordinate activities.”
Sanusi decried poor funding for road infrastructure in Nigeria, adding that reports had it that the country would need about N500bn annually to be able to develop its road sector considerably.
Punch
Akuko of life
ReplyDeleteExcuses excuses, una no dey tire because i tire for una
ReplyDeleteMchewww, absolute rubbish.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with him.
ReplyDeleteGOD BLESS NIGERIA.
How you no go agree? When ur name is total agree but you don't know it yet.giving excuses? So he dint know all this before abi?. U guys know u have failed just agree as ur names is I totally agree.
DeleteFashola has forever made a name for himself with his excellent performance as the gov. of Lagos.
ReplyDeleteI think it is Buhari's clueless ness and lack of direction that is affecting his performance as a minister.
Fashola na shit and tif big wan. So if you know he knows buhari is holding him Down what should he do? Leave the office. What did the mother fucker do for lagos? With all that plent allocation and IGR for 8yrs.
DeleteHe shouldn't be the minister of power, works and housing then
ReplyDeleteHe should be the minister of power and water resources to make his work more effective but then they had to combine 3 different post for him
Mohammed Sanusi and Ngozi Okonjo...two people I have utmost respect for their versatile experience.
ReplyDeletea.k.a EDWIN CHINEDU AZUBUKO said...
ReplyDelete.
This country is worthless neh... Nonsense everything.....
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***CURRENTLY IN JUPITER***
Enough of the stories, if Fashola can't give us light it means there is no need for the Office of Minister of Power.
ReplyDeleteThey can as well scrap it
if all sanusi said is true, den d office shud b scrapped... cos it's obvious he's been paid salary and allowances as a minister wen he has no control ova POWER
ReplyDeleteOkay!Why can't the Senate be scrapped and their salaries be used to help with the funding of infrastructure in Nigeria, please!
ReplyDeleteThey will NEVER EVER agree to that. Most of them believe and even swear they are doing God's very own work.
DeleteSenate shouldn't be scraped. Rather their salaries should be cut down by 60%...
DeleteYour majesty. at what point did you become Fashola's spokes person. there are a lot of questions begging for answers in the north: bokoharam, fulani herdsmen attack, girlchild violation and other numerous mayhem caused by your subjects in your region. address these issues cos these are areas where your intelligent analysis are most needed.you left the administration of this nation in a hurry to become an Emir.and we all know the circumstances that led to that.
ReplyDeleteSo long as the people of Nigeria are not sincere in their words and purpose,it cannot achieve anything.
ReplyDeleteWhen u were in GEJ's cabinet and had the opportunity to countribute positively ,u choose to strategically paint GEJ govt black to have ur blind brothers in power,oya..even the darkeness has balanced in ur home..continue to dela with it.
Giving him minister of power, works and housing is too much. They should just make him minister of works and housing then give power to another person.
ReplyDeleteGive power To ur Useless self that Fucks in Benin hotel 2 pay 4 ur Open university fees bcos u r fat lowlife, poverty stricken identity thief.
DeleteHow can a poor girl like u b FAT? Wen u can not feed without sleeping wit peter or tom 2 get money
Anon 14:41, I av your time honey!!! Keep it coming.
DeleteKwakwakwakwakwa.
Make me popular on stella's blog biko.
Stella, dedicate a post for this anon nau
His words, though true, are all over the place. I dont think he I criticising the govt or shielding Fashola. He is saying what knows to be true. At a point last year, wanted to write a treatise on these issues but had no time. We need Reforms in Nigeria and not mere 'change'. These are the issues the government should tackle.
ReplyDeleteWould have appreciated most of these speeches if they came before the last government left office. The inner workings of the ministeries and departments should have been laid bare to all citizens like this, so we know what is happening, how its happening and who to blame when its not happening and the way we apportion blame.
Its convenient for Sanusi to say these now that the president he hated is out of the way. Now he knows underfunding was also an issue. GEJ himself was too introverted and because of the corruption he allowed go on, he was also implicit in not being open. All he did was work and show us. Then fail in some and cover it up. He never exposed to Nigerians many things they were doing or planning to do and how things worked and what was making things slow.
So, on what Sanusi said. Had things like this been said, people would have questioned the last admin and held them to ransome if they were coming back. Then this admin would not have given us the simplistic ridiculous criticism of the past during election that everything was failing because there was 'corruption'. And people bought it in, hook line and sinker.People like Sanusi who knew better didnt volunteer all this info. Its now you can tell us why you think the power industry is failing? Now that there is 'no corruption'. What is happening?
From all he said, it doesnt matter who you put there and how much you pump in. As long as the pinnacle of the whole thing is shaky, there will be no interelation and it will lead to resultant systematic failure. You cant put something on nothing. When the minister sees that he can do nothing, his next resort will be to embezzle money, buy superficial machines, carry out superficial projects and gag the press with bribe. It has always been the case.
As Obama said and I always like to quote, Africans should stop chasing after strong personalities and think of building strong institutions. That is on the basis of which I say this govt has not done anything to bring change. Changing people from different posts is not change. Hounding people and taking them to court is not change. America tried it too.
It is when you build and reform the institutions in such a way that they will be effective(i.e what Sanusi pointed out), when you practice seperation of power along with checks and balances, when you reform institutions in a way that one man cannot control finances, when you block most means of govt corruption, when you reduce the money paid to government officials and the president's expenses, when you provide enabling environment for youths to start free trade, when you stop all these welfarist policies like paying pilgrimage fees, feeding people during ramadan and instead create jobs by creating good atmosphere and good economy that corruption becomes even stressful, when you reduce the powers of the president in the constitution, How can a president appoint more than 150 key officials in a country? When they scrap unnecessary ministeries and parastals or hold them accountable to work and not just sit by 9 and go by 4, when ministeries can fund themselves and not merely avenue for getting federal jobs, when the states are given autonomy not bail out.
When and not before these reforms are carried out, there is NO CHANGE. Dont be deceived. Nothing changed
Well said
DeleteKudos,well balanced analysis
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