Sabotage, theft undermine power supply – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to deal with saboteurs in the country’s power sector in order to restore sanity and service delivery to the populace.

The President said the sabotage and theft of gas were undermining the efforts of the government to increase power supply in the country.

According to a statement by Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the President, the President said to tackle the problem existing military task forces would be reorganised to ensure a successful protection of the network of gas pipelines.

The President, who said this in a question and answer interaction with the Nigerian community in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, noted that “although some improvement in power had been recorded in the recent period,” sabotage of pipeline installations continued to be a problem.

Nigeria has everything it takes to generate enough power, the President told his audience, saying, “power is a running battle because the saboteurs are still there. We have the potential. We have gas, we have qualified people but we are contending with a lot of saboteurs who go and blow up installations. When gas is pumped to Egbin and such other power stations, thieves and saboteurs such as the militants cut those supplies.”

He also said that the reduced role of the government in the sector was due to the privatisation of the institutions under the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in the process of which, the facilities “have been sold to a number of interest groups.”

He assured that the military task forces with representation from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Police and the secret services would be reconstituted to secure the pipelines, saying, “supplies will become steady; there will be less sabotage as we secure the pipelines.”

The President also updated the Nigerians in Tehran on the efforts of his administration towards ending the Boko Haram, explaining that a lot had been achieved following the reorganisation of the military top command, followed by increased equipment supply and training.

In a response to a question on the need to improve healthcare delivery, he said efforts had been intensified towards ridding the country of fake drugs and fake doctors, and also what he called “the disgraceful aspects” manifested by “baby factories.”

He also enumerated several steps being taken towards the revival of education from primary school level to university. On the creation of jobs, he placed the prevailing joblessness in the country at the doorstep of the last administration, which he blamed for giving “a devastating blow to the economy through corruption and incompetence.”

The President said something urgent would be done about the bad condition of roads, citing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as one to be addressed from next week by the minister, works, power and housing.