By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has stated that vandalisation of power transmission substation and lines among other critical power installations, which is currently rife in the country, is an organised crime.
The Minister made his position known at the weekend while featuring on Fresh FM 93.5 live interview programme South West Political Circuit in Ibadan to give his account of stewardship in office as Minister of Power.
He said some elements in the country are not happy about the breakthrough the administration of President Bola Tinubu is recording in the nation’s power sector, insisting that against all odds the and country must get it right in the sector for the overall development of the economy.
Adelabu said he had been receiving threat messages over the ongoing efforts to Improve the power sector in the country.
Declaring that it is no longer business as usual in the sector, the Minister said, “There is no problem that is not insurmountable, there will be resistance. People stand in your way, saboteurs and others. I don’t want to say this before, but let me say it here for the first time. I receive threats calls. I’m the 49th minister in the Ministry of Power, the past ministers were intimidated or frustrated in their work.
“It doesn’t take ordinary people to take down a power transmission substation, blow up a transmission power line. It’s an organised crime. It is those who do not want growth in the sector.”
According to the minister, the threat messages were coming from unknown forces not happy with his policy advancement strategies which have been yielding positive results in the Ministry of Power.
Speaking on the significant development achieved in his one year as Minister of Power, Chief Adelabu, said in less than a year in office as Minister of Power, his development plans had added over 1,000MW of electricity to the national grid capacity.”