19 August 2014, Abuja – Minister of State for Power, Mr. Mohammed Wakil, has warned agencies within the ministry against infighting and confrontations, advising that “only collaboration and positive interface can speed up attainments of the goals of the power sector reforms.”
Wakil issued the warning while inaugurating the Technical Committee on the establishment of the Electricity Management Services Limited, EMSL, last week in Abuja.
He noted that “inter agency disputes have negative impact on the implementation and achievement of government goals, saying, “we must never engage in disputes to the extent of engaging in press war.”
He added, “Agencies must avoid taken to public domain operational issues that should be resolved within the ministry. The transformation of the power sector has recorded so much progress that we cannot for whatever reasons fight each other over mandates. The ministry can no longer watch the infighting which has now reached the media. That is why this committee is conceived.
“You are to ensure that all areas of disputations between the EMS and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, are resolved with respect to the bill before the National Assembly. Your committee is to provide options and recommendations on how to ensure synergy between the two agencies,” the minister said.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Power, Dr. Godnows Igali, also told the committee that the EMS was set up by the same instrument that set up other agencies during the power sector reform exercise. EMS was not a creation of the present leadership of the ministry; the National Council on Privatisation created the EMS.
“The only thing was that it was registered as a limited liability company with the Corporate Affairs Commission before the National Assembly in its wisdom recommended a legal backing for the body. So it is not a new creation,” Igali said.
Responding, the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Nyelampa Ngada, said “There can be no robust power sector without technical regulation as different from economic regulation. Lack of proper testing of equipment is an invitation for problems.”
– Vanguard