- Adelabu: I’m Sorry
By Abiola Olawale
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has tendered an apology to Nigerians over his comment that the citizens lacked a good culture of electricity consumption management because of low tariffs.
Adelabu during a press conference on April 4, in Abuja had criticized Nigerians for always leaving their freezers on for days because they are not paying enough for electricity consumption.
“A lot of people will come back from work, they want to have dinner, or they want to see their colleagues down the road, they switch on the AC for the room to be cooling before they come back”, Adelabu had said.
“Some people will be going to work in the morning, a freezer that you left on for days, they will still leave it on when all the items in the freezer are frozen and five, six, eight hours of their absence will not make it to defreeze, they will still leave it to be consuming power just because we are not paying enough”, the minister had said.
The minister had since come under fire from many Nigerians over the past few days, with many describing his comment as considered offensive. Many Nigerians had declared the Minister’s comment as tactless, especially comment at a time the citizens are trying to adjust to the policies implemented by his principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Following the widespread backlash, Adelabu clarified during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday that his comment was not meant to offend the sensibilities of Nigerians.
He stated that his remark came from his strong desire for positive change within the power sector.
He said: “It was never intended to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians in any way. I never said people should switch off their freezers”, Adelabu said.
“It was actually innocent advice with regard to energy consumption management, which we believe will go a long way in reducing people’s energy bills.
“The example of the freezer might not have gone down well with the majority of Nigerians. I will say sorry about that. It was never my intention to insult anybody.
“It was out of my passion and eagerness to ensure that we make a change in the sector, which has suffered a lot of setbacks for some years.
“We said we need to cultivate the culture of energy consumption management. It was just a comical illustration”.
The New Diplomat reports that Adelabu’s comment came after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had on April 3, 2024, raised the electricity tariff for customers enjoying 20 hours of power supply daily. Customers in this category are classified under Band A.
The increase means the customers under the Band A classification will now pay N225 per kilowatt per hour, rising three times from the previous N66 per kilowatt.
Many Nigerians have since expressed their grievances over the development. Many had lamented the immediacy of the tariff hike and the current hardship in the land.
