The new minister of power, Abubakar Aliyu, says he is coming to add value to the electricity sector.
He called on top officials of the ministry to ensure their big titles translate to a stable and reliable electricity supply for Nigerians.
On September 1, President Muhammadu Buhari sacked Saleh Mamman as the minister of power and replaced him with Aliyu, then minister of state for works and housing.
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Speaking on Monday when he assumed duty at the ministry, Aliyu said he is not coming to perform magic in the sector.
He asked all stakeholders in the industry to work together to ensure adequate power supply to consumers.
“I am here to work together with all of you. I listened carefully when some of you introduced yourselves with various titles working in the ministry of power. I want those titles to be translated to the production of power to Nigerians from generation, transmission to distribution. That is when our titles will make more meaning.
“Otherwise, time would come when we would be ashamed to mention our names with those titles. So, I want to ask everyone from the permanent secretary down to the smallest on the ladder by rank in any part of the ministry of power to be dedicated and committed to the task ahead,” he stated.
He pledged to assist the officials of the ministry in carrying out their mandate but demanded that the job must be carried out dutifully, with full dedication and honesty.
Aliyu stressed that while he was not a magician, he was in the ministry to add value to the sector, given the critical nature of the sector to Nigeria’s development.
“I am here to work together with all of you. I listened carefully when some of you introduced yourselves with various titles working in the ministry of power. I want those titles to be translated to the production of power to Nigerians from generation, transmission to distribution. That is when our titles will make more meaning,” Aliyu said.
“Otherwise, time would come when we would be ashamed to mention our names with those titles. So, I want to ask everyone from the permanent secretary down to the smallest on the ladder by rank in any part of the ministry of power to be dedicated and committed to the task ahead.
“I am not an electrical engineer or having anything to do with power in the past but I am an engineer and I know when something is going wrong I will detect it. I will not allow it and I will try my best to make amends, together with you or without you, because that is my mandate, to ensure that we succeed.
“Don’t look at me as the minister of power that I have come to make magic. No, I am not a magician. I am coming to add value to what you have already been doing. So let us work together in honesty and full commitment.”
The new power minister added that he was sent to the ministry to improve power generation, transmission, and distribution.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mr William Alo assured the minister that all the staff of the ministry were ready to work with him to deliver power to the people.
“In the ministry of power, all staff are working together as a team to deliver on the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure power is available to Nigerians.
“We know you are here to continue the good work of the president as it concerns the power sector. We assure you of our commitment to redouble our efforts to make sure we deliver on our mandate, ‘’ he said.
Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, who accompanied the minister, noted that his ministry will partner that of power to deliver on their respective mandates.
“I ask all of you to cooperate with him as the power sector is very critical, so we need to do the right thing to deliver power to the people,’’ he said.