Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu says meaningful transformation in the power sector is hinged on the active participation of governments at the State level.
He highlighted the pivotal role of the State’s involvement in the distribution segment, encompassing infrastructure enhancement, reducing metering gap, enforcing bills collection, rural electrification, combatting power theft, preventing asset vandalization, and securing right-of-way for transmission lines.
Adelabu said to achieve this, the Ministry plans to collaborate closely with state Ministries of power, energy and public utilities.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Governor of Abia state, Alex Otti, on Friday in Abuja , the Minister explained his short, medium, and long-term strategies, emphasizing the need for State collaboration.
Adelabu says addressing challenges in the distribution segment requires unified efforts from sub-national governments due to its retail nature.
He underscored the vested interests of state governments in distribution, being closer to DISCOs and better positioned to support and monitor them to achieve their performance improvement plans.
The Power Minister proposed unbundling various regional DISCOs into different States, allowing for more localized oversight.
He added that Financial collaboration modalities between the Federal and State governments will be explored, possibly involving a swap of federal government stakes in DISCOs with State’ stakes in the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
He also highlighted collaboration opportunities in rural electrification, encouraging States to establish active rural electrification boards working in tandem with the Ministry’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
The Minister also announced plans for an inaugural ministerial retreat for the power sector from December 12th to 14th, 2023, where these issues would be extensively discussed.
The Abia State Governor, accompanied by key officials, commended the Minister’s well-thought-out strategies and expressed support for his transformative efforts.
