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Tag: Mr Babatunde Fashola

Electricity tariff: Senators to meet Fashola

Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Monday said that his Committee has concluded plans to meet Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola to address concerns raised by power Distribution Companies (DISCOS), over electricity pricing.

Abaribe who was said to have disclosed this during a tour of Power installations under the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), in Port Harcourt, noted that the committee was seeking to address the contentious issue of electricity tariff.

The senator was said to have agreed that fluctuations in pricing was affecting the sector.

Senator Abaribe, accompanied by six other senators on the visit, was said to have told officials of PHEDC that his Committee wanted to resolve the question of differentials between the money payable to generation companies and other stakeholders by the Discos.

According to him, all options will be placed on the table during the proposed meeting with the Minister.

He said: “We have had this discussion about pricing. We are taking it up with the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing. What we are looking for is a stable price. We do not want a system where things fluctuate. We will sit with them and look at all the variables.”

The Senator also told the leadership of the PHEDC that they needed to work closely with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to tackle activities of vandals.

The NSCDC, he said, is empowered by law to protect critical national infrastructure and prosecute vandals. He said the police is limited in the prosecution of vandals.

He said: “The question about prosecution is key. There is a law passed by the National Assembly to empower the Civil Defence Corps. They have powers to prosecute people who engage in energy or cable theft. They have the power to do that. If you drag them to the police, the fines are less. With Civil Defence Corps, you get favourable judgments.”

He said: “The job of the National Assembly is to legislate and help with laws that will make laws easier. This is one of the reasons we are going on oversight. The issue of right of way has come of age that we have to collaborate with state governments. It has to do with land use. I do not think state governments give the permission to people to build along power lines.

“Because of the decay, people now do certain things and nobody gets fined. The laws are already there. It is the enforcement of these laws that is the problem. We need to work with state governments to implement these laws.

“Part of your corporate social responsibility is to ensure that the people in places where you do business are part of your campaigns. These problems are peculiar to our system.

“People now use transformer oil to fry akara and even cook. There are places in Nigeria where these things happen. We need to educate people on the dangers of these things. DISCOS need to carry out more awareness programmes to educate their people.

“We must begin to differentiate between the rich and the poor. The most vulnerable in the society should not pay. There is a place in Brazil where poor people stay. We visited them. We discovered that the whole community was connected, but they were not paying. We should have that system here.”

Acting Chief Executive of PHEDC, Engineer Kingsley Achife was said to have in his speech told the committee that the Discos were faced with serious challenges.

He said: “One of the biggest problems is electricity theft. Very highly connected individuals are involved. About 130 people are currently in custody over this theft. We are appealing to the Senate to make hostility against electricity staff a crime. Our staff have been kidnapped, shot at and killed in their course of doing their duties. We need the help of lawmakers to put an end to this.

“Some communities reject metering here. Whenever our staff goes there, they are either beaten up or chased out. This is a problem. In places where we have put metres, the communities have bypassed them and they do not pay their bills. This is a major challenge we are facing.”

October 30, 2017
Obsolete equipment hindering power distribution, says Fashola

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday explained why distribution companies (Discos) reportedly rejected over 9,000 megawatts of electricity within one week recently.

Noting that power generation has grown from 2,690 megawatts in 2015 to 6,800 this August, he said that there is a problem with distribution caused by the inability of Discos to upgrade their equipment to the level of the generation being made.

According to him, an average of 4,000 megawatts of power are not accepted regularly, due to the weak capacity of the equipment being used by the Discos.

He said that some of the equipment acquired by the Discos upon privatisation have become antiquated and obsolete and hence, require being upgraded if they would be able to absorb and distribute the existing megawatts of electricity.

The Minister said that the government was committed to guaranteeing stable power supply, pointing out that the power sector reform of the federal government would address that problem.

He said, “On the rejection of 9,000 megawatt of power, I have not read the report. As at the beginning of the 10th August this year, the amount of power that was available to be delivered to the grid was 6,800 plus megawatts. So what that means is that from 2,690 in 2015 when this government was inaugurated, we have demonstrated that we can grow.

“We have overcome the gas challenges and the vandals and pipeline repairs have progressed and that has impacted success on the generation side. Our power is going to come from different sources, hydro, gas, solar and that is why we are investing in mambilla for more hydro so that when one source is vulnerable we can rely on another’s source.

“But in addition to power increase in terms of production, the transmission capacity has also increase, it has moved from the proverbial 5,000 to 6,700 megawatt that we can will. But the problem now is at the distribution end. For the kind of sustainable power we all want to see, it means every part of the value chain must work. And that is why I will continue to say that as we demonstrate our ability on generation and transmission we will demonstrate the same on our distribution.

“So what we are now putting on the grid because the Discos can’t take the power is roughly about 2,000 megawatt so there is 4,000 plus averagely that is not being taken. So if you calculate for three days or five days, that your submission on 9,000 is probably not correct.” he said

On whether the improvement of power supply in the country is a result of raining season or improvement on the part of Discos, Fashola said, “what is interesting is that for the first time in a long time, our gas fired plants and our hydro power plants driven by water have converged together, and when you factor that to the improvement that the Gencos investors have made into their plants and are still making, it explains the improved power supply that you have.”

August 30, 2017
Fashola: Lagos Assembly demands apology from Goje

The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, on Monday directed the Clerk, Mr Sanni Azeez, to write a protest letter to the Senate over a comment by Sen. Danjuma Goje.

This followed a motion moved by the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, Mr Tunde Braimoh, in respect of a statement credited to Goje (APC-Gombe Central) against the House.

Former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje

Braimoh recalled a statement made by Goje, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, on July 5.

He said Goje had reportedly told the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, not to see the National Assembly as an institution he could control the way he controlled the Lagos Assembly.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Goje had replied Fashola over issues bothering on the 2017 budget.

Braimoh said that the matter was reported in the national newspapers edition of July 6, 2017.

“The senator derogatorily referred to the Lagos State House of Assembly by saying that the National Assembly was not Lagos State House of Assembly.

“The statement is derogatory, uncomplimentary and it is an insult on the Assembly.

“The constitution does not give the senate power to superintend the state assembly.

“All the newspapers reported the story and it is an uncomplimentary and disparaging as well as an unparliamentary statement. The context in which the statement was made was slanderous,” he said.

According to him, the statement brings the House to public ridicule and it made people to feel that the House is a rubber stamp.

“Goje ought to be more civil with words with his status,’’ he said.

In his contributions, the Chairman, House Committee on Budget and Economic Planning, said Lagos Assembly was an institution that people of other climes appreciate.

Olowo said that if Goje has issues with Fashola, he should sort it out rather than insulting the assembly.

He, however, said that the house should write the Senate to reprimand the senator on the matter.

In his remarks, Mr Yinka Ogundimu, the Chairman, House Committee on Finance, described the statement as provocative.

Also, Mr Tobun Abiodun, the Chairman, House Committee on Works and Infrastructure, said that there were certain expectations from lawmakers based on ethics of the office.

“What Goje said is an insult on the leadership of this House. We demand an apology from Goje and the senate,” he said.

The House later adjourned the plenary session until Tuesday.

July 10, 2017
Budget comments: Senate attacks Fashola

The Senate Wednesday descended on Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, over his comments that the National Assembly distorted the 2017 budget by inserting new projects in the budget.

The upper chamber warned the minister to desist forthwith from accusing the National Assembly of over stepping its bound in the budget preparation.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje who raised the issue, said that Fashola should be told in clear terms that the National Assembly is not Lagos State House of Assembly.

He said that the National Assembly must not be treated as Lagos State House of Assembly by the minister.

Goje said that Fashola should also appreciate the fact that the Senate is constituted by former governors and former ministers.

The Gombe Central lawmaker said that the Senate would await the result of the House of Representative handling of the issues raised by Fashola before deciding the next line of action.

Goje said that since the Senate and the House are running the same National Assembly, further action may be taken pending the decision of the House on the matter.

Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki who said that the issue was not open for debate also said that it was good that the House of Representative was handling the matter.

Saraki said that the actions of the House would determine whether the Senate would take the matter to another level.

He said that it was important that Goje raised the issued and asked Senator to exercise patient until the conclusion of the engagement by the House.

July 5, 2017
2017 Budget: Fashola replies NASS, decries resort to name-calling

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has expressed concern over the reaction of the National Assembly to his observations on the 2017 Budget as passed by the legislature.

Fashola had in a recent interview, complained that the legislators had in approving the budget, reduced funds for some key projects of his ministry and allocated the money to some frivolous ones.

He had disagreed with the practice where the legislature unilaterally altered the budget after putting members of the Executive through budget defence sessions and committee hearings.

According to him, it amounted to a waste of tax-payers money and unnecessary distortion of orderly planning, for the lawmakers to unilaterally insert items not under the exclusive or concurrent lists.

Specifically, Fashola had said that the lawmakers altered the budgetary allocations for rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Bodo-Bonny road and the Kano-Maiduguri road.

Other projects whose funds were tampered with the national assembly, he alleged, were the second Niger Bridge and the long-drawn Mambilla Hydropower project.

He said the allocations were diverted to construction of scores of boreholes and primary health care centres, which were never discussed during the ministerial budget defence at the parliament.

But the spokespersons of the Senate and the House of Representatives, in separate responses, had accused the minister of spreading “half-truths” and making “fallacious’’ statements.

They accused the minister of wanting to hold on to the projects he complained about in order that he may continue to award contracts.

In a statement on Monday in Abuja, Fashola said it was sad that the lawmakers could resort to name-calling even without understanding the facts of what they were getting into.

He insisted that there was no subsisting concession agreement on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway as alleged by the national assembly.

He explained that what the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) had was a financing agreement from a consortium of banks, saying that there was no fallacy or half-truth in the allegation that the budgets were reduced.

“The spokespersons admitted this much and now sought to rationalise it by a concession or financing arrangement that has failed to build the road since 2006.

“The biggest momentum seen on the road was in 2016,” the minister said.

On the second Niger Bridge, whose 2016 allocation, the lawmakers claimed, was not spent and had to be returned, Fashola said, “this displays very stark and worrisome gaps in knowledge of the spokesperson about the budget process he was addressing.’’

According to him, a budget is just an approval of estimates of expenditure to be financed by cash from the Ministry of Finance.

He said that the Ministry of Finance did not yet release any cash for the 2^nd Niger Bridge and that no money was returned.

The minister said that the continuation of early works could not start in May, 2016 when the budget was passed because of high water level in the River Niger.

He also dismissed the allegation that the ministry under him was holding on to projects that could be funded through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) as a tissue of lies.

On the budget for Mambila Power Project, which was slashed because it contained a whopping N17 billion for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the minister said that there was indeed a “mis-description’’ of the expenditure.

According to him, what was described as a Budget Head for EIA was actually the nation’s counterpart funding to the China- EXIM loan to fund the building of the project.

He said that the information on the budget for Mambilla project was brought to his attention only after it had been slashed.

“In any event, allegations of half-truths are only a flawed response to the constitutional and developmental issues that have plagued Nigeria from 1999 about how to budget for the critical infrastructure in Nigeria.

“It shows the conflict between the Executive that wants to build big federal highways, bridges, power plants, rail and dams on one hand and a Parliament that wants to do small things.

“The parliament wants to do things like boreholes, health centres, street lights and supplying grinding machines,” he said.

“As long as budgets, planned to deliver life-changing infrastructure, are cut into small pieces, Nigeria will continue to have small projects that are not life-changing and big projects that have not been completed in 17 years.

“If a project would cost N15 billion and the contractor gets only a fraction of that, then things won’t move.

“Success should be defined by how many projects an administration is able to complete or set on the path of irreversible completion and not how many poorly funded contracts are awarded,” Fashola added.

June 27, 2017
Fashola tasks agency to provide electricity in rural communities

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Tuesday, said that the tertiary qualifications obtained by board members of the Rural Electrification Agency were meaningless if millions of Nigerians continue to lack access to electricity.

Fashola made this known while inaugurating a new board for the REA at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in Abuja.

He stated that millions of rural dwellers, as well as some others in urban centres still do not have access to electricity, adding that the responsibility of the newly inaugurated board was to ensure that most of these people get power in the shortest possible time.

His words: “I think it is important to know why we are here so that we start with the common understanding of what our objective is, you know what is expected of you and understand the necessity to succeed.

“Very clearly from the citations that we have listened to, Mr. President has picked from Nigeria those who are solely trained in Nigeria, for I heard Ahmadu Bello University, Nekede (polytechnic), as well as those from Doha and the United Kingdom.

“So clearly, the qualifications that you have are not in doubt, but those qualifications mean nothing if people do not have access to electricity across the country. Your qualifications, experience and achievements mean nothing if this team does not deliver electricity to the people who are in their many millions and are yet to be connected to grid.”

The minister told the REA board that they should ensure that millions of rural communities get electricity, either by connecting them to the national power grid or by providing them with off-grid power.

“When I meet with legislators they tell me they have communities that have never been connected to the grid and as I go round the country I’ve seen proof of that. So I know the kind of responsibility that you bear,” Fashola said.

He, however, promised the team that his ministry would continue to provide the REA with the required support, adding that the budgetary assistance needed to meet the rural electrification needs of Nigerian communities shall be provided.

“We will breakdown barriers for you, but really and truly it is you who will do much of the work,” the minister said.

Speaking with journalists after the board was inaugurated, the agency’s Managing Director, Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi, said by next week the new REA board will identify all the ongoing projects being undertaken by the agency, adding that it will also focus on completing selected new projects.

Ogunbiyi said, “What we are going to do from next week is to have the whole project team, led by the executive director technical, to go out and identify the status of all these projects and come up with the proper master plan of how we are to tackle existing projects while also focusing on the new projects that were mentioned by the minister, the university projects, hydro projects and small scale solar projects.

“So we really see ourselves as an access agency to get power to people who don’t have it regardless of where they are whether in the rural or urban centres. And we are going to do it using a whole different variety of renewable energy technology and some off-grid solutions as well.”

May 2, 2017
FG to tackle high project costing in construction sector

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has called for a systematic approach in ensuring proper project costing to tackle high cost of projects and corruption in the construction sector.

Fashola made the call at the 2017 Annual National Project cost Reduction Summit organised by the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) on Thursday in Abuja.

The Summit has the Theme: “Fighting Corruption through Proper Project Costing in Nigeria’’.

The Minister, who was represented by Mr Sani Gidado, Director Public Building and Housing, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, said this would guarantee the availability of more funds for the development of infrastructure.

“The economy will be enabled to appropriate the maximum benefits from this strategic sector by ensuring efficient allocation and utilisation of resources in this manner.

“All stakeholders have a duty to ensure value for money through proper projects costing in this all pervasive sector.”

Fashola said that one of the root causes for high costs of projects in the construction sector was corruption in the form of deliberate inflation of cost to satisfy pecuniary interests.

According to him, decayed infrastructure is one of the indices of underdevelopment that corruption promotes in a nation.

“The construction sector is one of the most important in any economy because of the profound effects of the activities of that sector on the overall national economy.

“Apart from its known capacity to generate employment on a large scale, its huge multiplier effect on the economy stand it out as one of the leading sector of economic development.

“Not only is it capable of pulling an economy out of recession; it is always handy in reflating a depressed economy’’ he said.

The Registrar, QSRBN, Mr Godson Moneke, said that the costs of constructing projects in Nigeria are rated among the highest compared to other countries in the world.

He said that corruption and lack of patriotism have caused Nigeria to lag behind her peers in all indices of development, industrial product and human-centred development.

“Our hearts bleed for Nigeria when we watch with amazement as monies which could achieve three units of projects achieve only one, while the rest are shamelessly diverted for fraudulent appropriation.

“To stem this anomaly, QSRBN is in the forefront of advocating the establishment of costing templates for all categories of construction projects across Nigeria.

“Such templates should create a cost bands/ranges for roads, bridges, railways, public buildings housing projects among others showing central tendencies, environmental zones and geological zones’’.

Moneke said that the summit was a way out of corruption which was induced by inflated project cost in the construction industry.

According to him, the summit was aimed at bringing some sanity into this important sector so that it can play its rightful role as a leading sector of economic development.

In his speech, Prof. Femi Odekunle, Member, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said that in the current fight against corruption, the QSRBN should be commended for conceiving and executing this summit on corruption.

He said that the committee’s engagement with professional bodies was justified by the fact that in this country many professionals are collaborators in the perpetration of medium–to-large-scale corruption.

“In actual fact, and perhaps needless to say, there is hardly any instance of such corruption that could succeed without the collaboration of a surveyor, architect and engineer before or after the fact,’’ he Odekunle.

April 20, 2017
Fashola re-states FG’s commitment to stabilise issues in power sector

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has said that the Federal Government is committed to formulating policies to address the liquidity issues in the power sector.

Fashola gave the government position in a communiqué issued at the end of power sector operators meeting in Osogbo on Monday.

He said one of such government policies was the Power Sector Payment Assurance Guarantee, designed to ensure the payment of services rendered by the electricity generating companies in the country.

According to him, the policy will ultimately bring about stability of liquidity in the sector.

Fashola said it was important that all stakeholders remained committed to their various roles of supplying and distributing power to ensure effectiveness of the sector.

The minister said the purpose of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) was to ensure that citizens had access to safe and reliable power.

Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun also acknowledged the gradual improvement of electricity supply, especially in the state.

He said that the importance of the Power Sector Recovery Plan was critical to ensuring accountability for losses, improvement of customer service, customer accessibility, safety, and performance in the sector.

Aregbesola urged electricity customers to play their role in the success of the industry through the timely payment of bills.

He said it was important to end vandalism of power assets, and the constant assault on electricity workers

April 10, 2017
FG assures power companies of support

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola says the Federal Government will support power companies in Nigeria to resolve its generation problem.

Fashola, who gave the assurance in Abeokuta during a tour of Olorunsogo Power Plant in Ogun, called for a comprehensive report of challenges facing the companies.

He acknowledged that problems facing the companies were different, depending on location and hence the need to call for the reports.

The minister said that when he gets such reports, the ministry would present it to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and appropriate action.

“As the supervising ministry, there are some things that are not in our control.

“If there is water problem in any of the hydro dams, it is the problem of the Ministry of Water Resources.

“The problem of gas supply is that of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources,’’ he said.

The minister expressed optimism that the gas programme recently initiated by the Federal Government would address the challenges of gas supply to the generation companies.

He said the capacity of power generation in the country was about 12,000 megawatt but could not be used because of challenges of either transmission or gas shortage.

In his remark, Mr Monsuru Afinni, the Managing Director of Pacific Energy, managers of the Plant, commended the minister for visiting the power station.

He said the installed capacity of the plant was 335 megawatts, adding that generation had hovered between 151 and 186 megawatts in the past weeks because of gas constraints.

He highlighted the challenges facing the plants to include scarce foreign exchange to pay its expatriates, procurement of equipment and the deplorable state of the road linking the plant.

March 25, 2017
Akeredolu wants FG to dualise Isua/Okene road

Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has urged the Federal government to dualise the Isua-Akoko/ Okene road because of its economic importance to the state.

Governor Akeredolu said the road, being the link between South West to the federal capital territory, Abuja will serve a great interest if dualised.

The governor spoke at the exco Chamber of the governor’s office in Akure, the state capital while playing host to the minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

The minister was on official inspection of federal roads in the state.

Governor Akeredolu who lauded the federal government for investing so much on infrastructure than any other administration pleaded with the federal government to complete all ongoing projects in the state.

He particularly said dualizing the Isua-Akoko /Okene Road will boost the economy of the state and also help to ease transportation in the area.

He said “the Federal government is doing a lot but there are so many things to be done, the Federal Government have spent quite a lot on infrastructure, far more than any other administration, building infrastructure

“The Ipele /Ifira / Isua to Okene Road is very important. I wish it could be made a dual carriage way, it is important to the economy viability of Ondo State, it is also good for commuters, coming from Abuja to Ondo State ”

The governor also frown at the over four years of total blackout in the southern Senatorial District of the state comprising six local government.

He wondered why the whole community would be thrown into darkness when the electricity body can deal directly with individual, saying anyone who refused to pay for elect consumed can be cut off from the system but not the whole community.

The governor who noted that power is crucial to economic development, urged the Federal government to intervene into the situation.

Fashola appreciated the state government for giving the federal government lands for the housing unit schemes which is ongoing in the state.

He informed the governor that Federal government has concluded plans to commence work on the Akure/Ado express road.

According to the minister, the federal government is concern about connecting roads between states, saying the main concern of the government is on highway.

The former Lagos state governor also hinted that the federal government has concluded arrangement to ensure that gas is adequately supply for the Omotosho power plants.

He said “we have concluded plans to commence work on Akure /Ado Ekiti high way, so as to connect you to Ado Ekiti your neighbouring state

“As far as power is concern, we are working to increase the gas supply in Omotosho power plant, your state owns the power plant

“I like to thank your state for giving us land for the housing, most of the people who will be working in the construction sites will be residents of the state, by that, the federal government is helping the state government to create employment, and stabilize the economy”

Fashola also promised that the Federal government will soon offset the claims of state government over their investment on federal roads.

March 24, 2017