The “Pull Him Down” syndrome is a Ghanaian colloquial term. It is a sort of malicious envy and the arousal of primitive urges to destroy the good fortune of someone simply because one lacks what the envied other has. It is like a disease that makes people to hate seeing others making progress.
The above assertion summarizes the motive behind the campaign of calumny being launched against the person and the office of the Minister of Power, Oloye Adebayo Adelabu. From whatever angle one looks at it, it is nothing but acts of vendetta. And we all know where this is coming from.
The convergence of forces at the home front against the Minister is predicated on no other motive than the 2027 gubernatorial agenda. “What can we do to pull him down ahead of the time?”. That is the equatorial assignment on their hands right now. They have phobia for his rising political profile simply because he is the holder of the biggest political office at the federal level from Oyo State.
The only veritable weapon at their disposal is to tie him to the age long crises in the power sector and make a culprit out of him. Who does not know that the incessant black-out in Nigeria pre-dated his appointment into the Ministry? Only the people living beneath the surface of the ground will feign ignorance of this reality.
From time immemorial, electricity supply in Nigeria has been nothing to write home about. It has always been epileptic in nature. Many a time, the nation is in darkness occasioned by the failure of the successive governments to provide stable electricity. Forty-six ministers at one time or the other had taken charge of the Ministry. None of them excelled! Not even our own indefatigable late Bola Ige or the highly rated public officer, Babatunde Raji Fashola or the one they call guru in the power sector Bartholomew Nnaji could make a remarkable impact that stood a test of time.
Now that a new Sheriff is in town, who has not even spent up to a year in the saddle, disgruntled elements are already calling for his head. They have chosen to keep blind eyes to the systematic efforts he is making to change the narratives. Their eyes are no longer on the ball, but maliciously fixated on the legs. This is being mischievous. Just calling a dog a bad name for it to be crucified . They care less about the powerful toes that Oloye Adebayo Adelabu has been stepping on in order to revamp the ailing sector. In spite of all this, the enemies of progress will not give him a little respite.
We know where the gang up is coming from. The cabals in the power sector are also part of the game plan. They are the ones fighting tooth and nail to ensure that the status quo remains. They are unceasingly launching social media attacks to discredit and water down the humble progress being made by the honorable minister for selfish reasons.
If not so, why is it an herculean task to meter all the electricity consumers in Nigeria despite the federal government huge investments in the project? Please, ask the cabals. Why did the reforms made in 2012 by former President Goodluck Jonathan to bring sanity into the power sector failed to work? Please, ask the cabals. Why is the subsidy on electricity tariff by the federal government having zero impact in the power sector ? Please, ask the cabals. They have always been there circumventing the good intentions of the federal government.
All of this stuff notwithstanding, Oloye Adebayo Adelabu has been tirelessly throwing his searchlight on all the elements of the value chains in the power sector for remedial actions to be taken. But as expected, there are hurdles mounted by the enemies of progress along the way which are being steadily surmounted. It is a well known fact that when you confront ineptitude, sabotage and corruption, they will surely conspire to fight back. Therefore, to every right thinking people, the sponsored criticisms, blackmails and innuendos being directed on the person of the Minister of Power just to impugn him is a silly and hopeless thing to do.
Let it be known to only those that care to listen that the Minister of Power, Oloye Adebayo Adelabu is unperturbed by your noise. The only thing that is important to him is to deliver on the mandate of renewed hope agenda given to him by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. To achieve this, the Minister is consciously impervious to the cacophony of the noise you are making around. No miracle, no magic will work on power sector, but sound management skills. And to the glory of God, everything is on course as there is light at the end of the tunnel.
For your information, the constraints of vandalization of the TCN equipment, the shortage in the supply of gas and of course, the Nigeria factor bothering on systemic corruption are being frontally addressed. Just recently, the Minister informed the public of the measure already taken by the federal government to unbundle eleven Distribution Companies (DisCos) and to resell three DisCos that are underperforming in the next three months.
Two developments came in quick succession last week. The first one was the commissioning of the 63MVA 132/33kv Mobile Substation Installed under Phase 1 of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) In Ajah Transmission Substation, Lagos State. It was one of the series of projects to expect from Siemens Energy. It is being powered by the FGN Power Company and executed by the Ministry Of Power under the able leadership of Oloye Adebayo Adelabu.
Before we could say Jack Robinson, another 100MVA Siemens Mega Transformer was commissioned at the Kumbosto Power Transmission Station in Kano through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). As we speak, Nigeria now has 4,800 Megawatts of electricity. The target is 6,000MW in the short run.
Who says that we are not making progress in the power sector? But unfortunately, the noisemakers will not celebrate success. Rather, they are enmeshed in shallow politics, personal vendetta and fault finding.
Ride on and break the jinx in the power sector, the honorable Minister of Power.
B. Aderemi Ogundele
(Jagunmolu)
