TheCable

Barth Nnaji, former minister of power, says diesel suppliers and generator dealers are sabotaging efforts for Nigerians to enjoy regular power supply.

According to NAN, Nnaji spoke on Wednesday, during the ‘South East Political Roundtable’ programme on Flo FM in Umuahia, Abia state.

Also the group chairman of Geometric Power, Nnaji said the endless breakdown of the national grid has remained a significant concern among Nigerians.

This, he said, is despite the federal government’s claim of spending N7 trillion as direct interventions in the power sector, even after privatising the electricity generation and distribution arms of the industry since November 2013.

Nnaji identified diesel suppliers and generator sellers as other obstacles for those power generation companies.

The ex-minister said the sector needs professionals, who understand the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to manage it.

“There are two areas when you talk of cabal in the sector — the diesel suppliers and generator users,” he said.

“Nigeria is a big user of generators because of our enormous power need and those who are in the business would not want any interruption.

“The diesel suppliers feel that stable power supply would destroy their business.”

Nnaji said the power sector, just like others, “had some cabal, who make gains from the problems of poor power supply”.

“A graphic picture of how dangerous the diesel suppliers can be was experienced when we were in government, somewhere in this country, some men cut down 30KVA line to stop electricity supply to thousands of users,” the former minister said.

“Unfortunately, the diesel supplying company sponsored the operation.”

Incidentally, he said, the power cable fell on one of the saboteurs, who later confessed to the crime.