{"id":7479,"date":"2013-08-01T07:40:51","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T07:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/minister-orders-resolution-of-metering-billing-problems\/"},"modified":"2013-08-01T07:40:51","modified_gmt":"2013-08-01T07:40:51","slug":"minister-orders-resolution-of-metering-billing-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/minister-orders-resolution-of-metering-billing-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister orders resolution of metering, billing problems"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has directed that all issues surrounding metering and unfair billing should be resolved immediately without any electricity consumer being shortchanged.<\/p>\n

The Deputy Director of Press in the ministry, Mr. Ibrahim Haruna, said in a statement yesterday that the minister gave the directive while answering questions on a private television programme: \u201c90 Minutes,\u2019\u2019 with a focus on the power sector.<\/p>\n

The minister expressed regret that the sector\u2019s neglect was a result of the wrong classification of power as a social welfare service.<\/p>\n

According to the statement, Nebo observed that it was only in 1999, with the country\u2019s return to democracy, that the gross neglect was addressed.<\/p>\n

For instance, he said although for 17 years, no single engineer was hired in the power sector, this huge gap in human capacity required to run the sector was being bridged with the ongoing recruitment of young Nigerian engineers.<\/p>\n

Nebo, who said the current power generation was more than 4,000 megawatts, disclosed that before President Goodluck Jonathan came to power, the country was producing just over 2,000mw.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 2,000mw in 2010 to the current 4,500mw, is this not achievement?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The minister said all hands must be on deck to improve the power generation as the present capacity of 4,000mw was unacceptable considering the country\u2019s population and potential as \u201cGiant of Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nebo added that government was committed to diversifying energy generation capacity to include renewable such as wind, solar, coal, biomass and small hydro.<\/p>\n

The minister also spoke on the energy policy and energy efficiency initiatives of the administration.<\/p>\n

He said before Jonathan\u2019s intervention, the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, was abandoned, but the present administration revived it and made it more effective in the provision of electricity, off grid to rural dwellers.<\/p>\n

Nebo promised that at the end of the ongoing privatisation, Nigerians would heave a sigh of relief as the generator importers would soon be eased out of business.<\/p>\n

On labour issues, the minister said that he had directed the commencement of the payment of severance package to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, staff expected to gulp about N384 billion while additional N16 billion would be used to pay other retirees and pensioners of the company.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, several parts of Kano have been thrown into darkness in the last couple of weeks, which is now threatening economic activities.<\/p>\n

Greater part of the city had in the last three weeks been hit by power outage with no explanation yet by officials of the state PHCN.<\/p>\n

A visit to parts of the city yesterday showed that highbrow areas such as Bompai, Nasarawa and the Challawa and Sharada Industrial Estates, which were hitherto spared, now experience unbearable epileptic power supply.<\/p>\n

The situation is worse in densely populated Dakata, Kurna, Yankaba, Badawa and other remote parts of the city, where the residents have threatened to deal with any official of PHCN on revenue drive in the areas, without first of all restoring power for a reasonable period.<\/p>\n

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, has sounded the alarm over the rising unemployment rate in Kano which it said would soon hit the sky if government continued to pay lip service to the power crisis.<\/p>\n

Addressing journalists in Kano yesterday, the National Vice-President, MAN, North-West Zone, Alhaji Ali S. Madugu, said the closure of 400 manufacturing companies in the commercial city of Kano following their inability to access the required volume of power to remain afloat had resulted in the sacking of 400,000 workers.<\/p>\n

Describing the power situation in Kano as pathetic, Madugu said there seemed to be a total absence of transparency in the allocation of power to Kano Zone.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: National Mirror Newspaper<\/p>\n

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