Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, on Thursday, apologised over his comment faulting Nigerians who usually keep freezers and air conditioners on when they are not indoors.
During an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Adelabu said the comment was not intended to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians.
He had said Nigerians lacked the culture of power consumption management due to the affordability of electricity supply.
“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.
“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,” Adelabu had said.
The comment did not go down well with who criticised the minister for his handling of the ministry of power.
Speaking on the comment which didn’t augur well with many Nigerians, Adelabu said his reaction was borne out of his passion for a change in the power sector.
He added that the remark was directed at customers in the Band A category, who are expected to enjoy 20 hours of electricity supply in a day.
“It was never intended to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians in any way. I never said people should switch off their freezers.
“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, it 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,” Adelabu said.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission recently approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classification.
