The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has assured of gradual but consistent improvements aimed at propelling growth across various sectors.
The assurance was made during his maiden courtesy visit to the Oyo State Governor, coinciding with the ongoing nationwide power retreat.
Minister Adelabu emphasized the need to move away from community funding for transformers, asserting that it is the responsibility of the electricity distribution companies (Discos) and the government, especially when the Discos are not forthcoming.
He underscored the importance of collaboration between the federal and state governments, as well as key power sector players, to enhance distribution infrastructure, improve metering systems, and eliminate the reliance on estimated billing.
According to Adelabu, “I have a plan for a nationwide visit this year, and it is starting from Oyo State. our visit involves inspection of all our power installations across the state, transmission substations, and transmission powerlines to look at the state of these infrastructures to determine where upgrade and modernization are required, where we also need to establish more infrastructure to reduce the burden and loads on existing ones.
“The visit also involves Ibadan electricity distribution company to evaluate their performance to discuss areas of collaboration with them. The next port of call was to the state government to see where we can collaborate, corporate and partner with the state government especially the ministry of energy and public utilities because responsibility for stable power is on the government”.
Governor Seyi Makinde, in response, expressed appreciation for the federal government’s renewed focus on revitalizing the power sector.
Makinde reiterated his administration’s commitment to leverage the opportunities presented by the 2023 Electricity Act.
He said, “There’s a power outage and that is what we face every day and we do know that we can improve the electricity situation for our country. For us in Oyo State, the game changer is the electricity regulation law of 2023. For us, we will take full advantage of that law. The bill which will allow private sector players into the energy sector in Oyo State has now been passed by the House of Assembly and I will sign it into law maybe by the end of the week or early next week. It will be passed by the House of Assembly”.
Governor Makinde also announced a state-level power bill currently awaiting his signature, aimed at fortifying power distribution within Oyo State.
