A former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, has accused diesel suppliers and generator dealers of being responsible for Nigeria’s erratic power supply.
The former Minister made this allegation on Wednesday while featuring in a radio program captioned “The South East Political Roundtable” by Flo FM, Umuahia.
Nnaji, who is the Group Chairman of Geometric Power, Aba, specifically mentioned diesel suppliers and generator sellers as being responsible for power interruption, among other factors he identified as parts of Nigeria’s challenges in having a regular power supply
He maintained that the sector needed professionals who understood the Nigerian electricity supply industry to manage it.
“There are two areas when you talk of the cabal in the sector: the diesel suppliers and generator users.
“Nigeria is a big user of generators because of our enormous power needs, and those who are in the business would not want any interruption.
“The diesel suppliers feel that a stable power supply would destroy their business,” he said.
Speaking further, Nnaji also alleged that the power sector, just like others, had some cabals who benefited from the poor power supply.
He said, “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 a 30KVA line to stop the electricity supply to thousands of users.
“Unfortunately, the diesel supplying company sponsored the operation.
“Incidentally, the power cable fell on one of them, who later confessed to the crime.”
