Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has broken silence over the crash that happened in Ibadan on Friday, describing the incident in which an aircraft operated by Flint Aero crash-landed at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport, Ibadan, as a result of his desire to prioritise national assignment over personal interest.
The minister spoke in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, yesterday, by his media aide, Bolaji Tunji.
Adelabu said he left Abuja on Friday because he had an appointment to visit the soon-to-be-commissioned 2 X 60MVA, 132/33KVA transmission Station in Ogbomoso, Oyo State on Saturday morning and to also join the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, to commission the Oyingbo overpass of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) route on Sunday.
“Recall that we had a ministerial retreat with Mr. President till late Friday evening. However, due to the prior appointment in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, I had to personally pay for a private jet to convey us to Ibadan from the Villa, where the retreat was held in order to meet the Saturday and Sunday appointments.”
The Minister, who expressed appreciation to everyone that showed concern over the incident said he has put the incident behind him.
“We thank Almighty God that the incident was not more than that. We have a mandate from the President to boost power supply in the country, we should not let anything deter us from that objective. You can all see that I am in the office to resume work. That is what matters and in the next few weeks, Nigerians will see further improvements in power supply.”
The minister said since his appointment, he had met with various stakeholders such as the generating and distribution companies and other related organisations in the power sector to identify the issues and why there had not been improvement in the sector despite government’s huge investment in the sector.
“You all know that I am not the first minister to be appointed in this ministry; we have had prominent Nigerians holding forth here. The question to then ask is: “Why have we not had any significant improvement in the sector? We do not want to go the same way, we want to know what the challenges are and these have been identified. We are interested in a delivery-focused strategy to boost power supply”, he said.
Adelabu said a retreat for all the various stakeholders would be held before the end of the year.
