Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja
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.
