Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has admitted that he was on board a private jet that crash-landed at the Ibadan Airport last Friday, noting it was as a result of his desire to prioritize national assignment over personal interest.
Adelabu in a statement on Tuesday said the incident in which an aircraft operated by Flint Aero crash-landed at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport, Ibadan, would not deter him from carrying out the mandate of President Bola Tinubu.
He emphasized that he left Abuja on Friday because he had an appointment to visit the soon-to-be-commissioned 2 X 60 MVA, 132/33 KVA transmission Station in Ogbomoso, Oyo State on Saturday morning and to also join the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu to commission the Oyingbo overpass of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) route on Sunday.
He said: “You will recall that we had a ministerial retreat with Mr President till late Friday evening. However, due to the prior appointment in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, I had to personally pay for a private jet to convey us to Ibadan from the Villa where the retreat was held to meet the Saturday and Sunday appointments”.
Adelabu expressed appreciation to everyone who showed concern over the incident and said he had put the incident behind him.
“We thank the Almighty God that the incident was not more than that, however, we have a mandate from the President to boost power supply in the country, and we should not let anything deter us from that objective. You can all see that I am in the office to resume work. That is what matters and in the next few weeks, Nigerians will see further improvements in power supply.”
The Minister hinted that since his appointment, he had seized the opportunity to engage the various stakeholders such as the generating and distribution companies and other related organizations in the power sector value chain ladder to identify the issues and why we have not had any improvement in the sector despite the government's huge investment in the sector.
