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Yar'Adua and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan met for two hours with some of the stakeholders in the power sector.
He directed heads of institutions in the sector to re-strategise and agree on an acceptable work-plan that would fast-track his resolve to tackle the energy crisis.
According to the President, "we must solve this problem because until we do that, we cannot address the fundamental problems of our economy like poverty and unemployment. Even while the circumstances may be different, if we can achieve what we did in the telecoms sector, we can equally solve the power and energy problem."
He added: "My ultimate goal is to achieve what we did with the GSM. We will partner with the private sector and put in as much investment as we should. You people better be ready to come up with your plans before I declare a state of emergency in the sector. Because once I do, I will take no excuses.''
Represented at the meeting were the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE).
The President used the forum to announce the reappointment of the Special Assistant to the President on Power Sector, Mr. Joseph Makoju.
Others at the meeting included BPE Director-General, Mrs. Irene Chigbue; Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Ibrahim Dankwabo; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Akin Arikawe and NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr. Funso Kupolokun.
At the meeting, Makoju presented a paper entitled: "Power Sector Status, Issues and Way Forward," in which he addressed the issues of current installed plants, their performance as well as actions taken on on-going projects and related projection, future structure for the sector and the way forward.
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