Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, on Monday advised people in the Niger Delta region to positively engage government to address their grievances.
Speaking at the 12th Monthly Power Sector and Stakeholders Meeting in Ibadan, the minister said dialogue has remained a better option than continued acts of vandalism of public property.
He said that the country’s power generation could return to 3,000 megawatts once the vandals stopped their activities.
“Their anger should not be anger of fight but anger of engagement, engage the government reasonably, not angrily, engage them productively not in a negative way,’’ he counseled.
According to him, the power sector must show result this 2017 and that is the reason the government is reaching out for peace in the region so that we can tackle the issue of vandalism.
Fashola assured that 3,000 megawatts would be energised and restored to the national grid if the Excravos pipeline was repaired, in addition to the “3,500 megawatts we have already and making it 6,500 megawatts’’.
He called on DISCOs to as quickly as possible make rapid deployment of meters, noting that consumers still feel that they are getting the wrong end of the stick through the estimated billing method.
Fashola assured that he would continue to stand on the side of consumers as they have the right to have meter and DISCOs have the obligation to provide it.
The minister urged the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to involve members of the public, state and local governments as well as traditional rulers and community organisations in what they were doing.
According to him, only by this can people understand that somebody is actually taking a step to solve a problem.
The CEO of the company, Mr John Donnachie, in his remark, promised improved electricity supply.
He said that IBEDC was working tirelessly to perform up to expectation despite challenges facing the company.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister and other stakeholders in the power sector were at the meeting for over three hours in a bid to resolve issues pertaining to how power supply can be improved. (NAN)