Presidential meeting with power firms means Fashola failed the sector—Analysts
Commentators on development matters have started analysing the meaning of recent emergency meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and electricity distribution companies, saying it shows that former Governor of Lagos State, who recently left his cabinet as Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola failed in the sector as Minister.
Business Hilights gathered that the crucial meeting was on the instance of a bid to resolve the hydra headed issues affecting the electricity supply industry.
Sources said the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Abba Kyari, had a meeting with the Discos last week, before the presidential inauguration. Similar meeting was also held with representatives of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc in attendance.
Key issues discussed included resolving the liquidity crisis in the sector and improving service delivery by the Discos so as to tame the frustrations being suffered nationwide in electricity accessibility.
Analysts said some of the issues Fashola could not resolve which formed key reasons why he was appointed to oversee the sector included the problems of gas supply shortages, limited distribution networks, limited transmission line capacity, huge metering gap, electricity theft, and high technical and commercial losses, among others.
But within the era of the former Minister, rather than having progressive trajectory, the nation was visited with serial drop in power availability as total power generation kept dropping and currently stood at 3337.2 megawatts.
Recall that the former Minister had during the 2015 presidential campaign asserted that a government that could not fix power in six months cannot be trusted and has failed.
