President Yar’adua urges new strategies to tackle energy crisis
By
Jun 5, 2007, 17:04

President Yar’adua has urged all the heads of institutions connected with the power sector to re-strategise so as to come up with an acceptable work-plan that would fast track his resolve to tackle the energy crisis within the shortest possible period.

The President stated this on June 5, in Abuja at a meeting with teams from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN); Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Federal Ministry of Finance; Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE).

According to him “we must solve this problem because until we do that we cannot address the fundamental problems of our economy like poverty and unemployment. Even while the circumstances may be different, if we can achieve what we did in the telecoms sector, we can equally solve the power and energy problem. My ultimate goal is to achieve what we did with the GSM. We will partner with the private sector and put in as much investment as we should. You people better be ready to come up with your plans before I declare a state of emergency in the sector. Because once I do, I will take no excuse.’’

The President used the occasion to inform Engineer Joseph Makoju that his appointment has been reconfirmed.

Earlier in his presentation titled ‘Power Sector Status, Issues and Way Forward’ the Special Assistant to the President on Power Sector, Engineer Joseph Makoju addressed the issues of current installed plants, their performance as well as actions taken on on-going projects and related projection, future structure for the sector and the way forward.

In attendance at the meeting were Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, BPE Director-General, Mrs. Irene Chigbue; Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Ibrahim Dankwabo; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Akin Arikawe and NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr. Funso Kupolokun.

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