By John Ikani
Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has offered apologies to his countrymen over some recent economic issues centering on petrol scarcity and power grid failures.
In a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, the President expressed sincere regrets for the inconvenience the energy and power crisis have caused citizens.
Buhari’s apology comes after weeks of fuel scarcity, and energy crisis that have overwhelmed the West African country, causing long queues at filling stations and affecting many households and small businesses.
Earlier this week, a nation-wide grid failure worsened the energy crisis. Power distribution companies sent out statements suggesting a “total system collapse” and promising that the situation was being monitored to determine its cause in order to give solutions.
Buhari said his Government was working around the clock with the sector to increase the supply of fuel – and directed the Petroleum Ministry, the state-owned oil company NNPC and security agencies to take “strong actions’” against owners of petrol stations and officials at depots who are “not behaving properly” – a reference to those involved in corruption.
Addressing power challenges, he said a number of factors were to blame – technical problems at thermal stations, gas pipelines to power stations being vandalised and a dip in hydroelectric generation because of “seasonal pressures” on dams.
These challenges notwithstanding, Buhari promised that efforts are underway to resolve the problem and restore electricity to Nigerians.
