Last week, the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo in an interview with The Guardian, bemoaned the activities of cabals as inimical to the success of reforming the nation’s electricity sector but promised not be discouraged by such activities. In that interview, Nebo said: “You know that evil forces inhabit human beings and I am sure that you are aware of the fact that the cabals that don’t want the power sector to heal in Nigeria are very powerful. I wouldn’t want to start mentioning them one by one but it is important to remember that there are people who are benefiting from the sufferings of the masses. There are people who are benefiting from Federal Government’s funds that were supposed to be used to address issues but were not used.”
We appreciate the position of the minister in identifying this problem as a first step to solving what has become an intractable problem. But we hope this will not be an excuse that will define his tenure as has been the case in the past.
Just as the failure of the fuel subsidy regime was attributed to the cabals, we hope the Minister of Power will confront this problem head-on from beginning in reforming the electricity sector.
Every day, Nigerians are inundated with reports of the huge sums of money that are being spent in various sectors of the economy without meaningful developments. In the past, there were reports that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime between 1999 and 2007, gulped US$10 billion, yet we are still in total darkness. So, these claims of spending so much money in one sector or the other of the economy without commensurate development is not new to Nigerians. We therefore want to see actions on the part of the minister as he has promised that it will not be business as usual.
It would have been gladdening for the minister to have mentioned members of the cabal, since he has identified them. We want to take this as being tactical instead of lack of courage.
Surely, every contract agreement is signed before release of funds and therefore all parties are expected to stick fully to the terms of such an agreement which must be invoked in the case of default. Therefore, that Nebo has started ensuring that the letters and spirit of whatever agreement he enters with contractors is respected and all funds remitted for projects are fully utilised to the last kobo, cannot but be cheering. That is the only way to go and that is the only way to defeat this cabal. We believe that the problems in the power sector and other sectors of the Nigerian society were not created by the so-called cabals, but rather by past government officials who failed to check them or even encouraged them by simply remaining aloof, treating them with kid gloves or conniving with them outright for personal gains.
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