Nigerians, especially industrialists, of steady electricity
supply in a very short time.
Nebo gave the assurance at the investiture of the newly
elected president and council of the Enugu Chamber of
Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) in
Enugu.
According to him, downturn in the power sector is only
temporal and that government is doing everything possible
to provide stable electricity.
"Lots of work is being done. Government is putting the
right mechanisms to ensure adequate electricity 24/7," he
said.
Nebo praised industrialists for their steadfastness, urging
them to support government's endeavour toward making
them succeed.
The minister said that the Federal Government had
commenced the mapping out of industrial and agricultural
clusters across the country with a view to giving them
electricity.
"Industry and manufacturing are keys to economic
development and give a double digit growth to the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP)," he said.
The Chairman, National Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC), Dr Sam Amadi, said that privatisation was a
major component factor in the power sector reform.
"The establishment of a competitive electricity market with
free entry and exit for private providers is the major
objective of the power sector reform in Nigeria," Amadi
said.
Amadi urged Nigerians to stop politicising power, saying
that to privatise power was not an easy process.
According to him, the next phase of the power reform is to
regulate the tariff, which he said, was already in progress.
He appealed to chambers of commerce in the country to
support the transformation agenda of the present
administration by ensuring the realisation of the power
reform objectives.
The chairman presented a paper entitled, "New power
Sector Regime as Panacea to Stable and Quality Electricity
Supply".
Earlier, the Director-General of the Standard Organisation
of Nigeria (SON), Dr Joseph Odumodu, stressed the need
for the public to be vigilant and take action whenever they
buy substandard products.
Odumodu said vigilance was necessary in curbing the
existence of counterfeit and substandard products in
Nigeria.
In his acceptance speech, the new President, Dr Ifeanyi
Okoye, said he would redouble efforts to move the council
forward.
Okoye said he would focus on promotion of the agriculture
sector as well as improve on the activities of manufacturers.
In his remarks, the past president of ECCIMA, Dr Theo
Okonkwo, urged the new executive to remain focused, and
promised to offer useful advice to the chamber if need be.
The event witnessed awards to some distinguished
industrialists in the South-East zone of the country. [NAN]
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