Empowering Taraba State through the new Minister of Power -By Sa’ad Abubakar Zongre

The recent appointment of an indigine of Taraba State, Engineer Sale Mamman as the new substantive Minister of Power of the Federal Republic of Nigeria came as a pleasant surprise to many Tarabans and a total surprise to many Nigerians simply because the ministry is traditionally or largely seen as the exclusive preserve of “big shots/national icons” from the presumed “elite” states of Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, Katsina, Enugu, Rivers, Edo, Ogun, Bauchi and Akwa-Ibom.
As a result of this landmark appointment, Engr. Mamman has now emerged as the first Minister of Power from Taraba State who, automatically, belongs to the “Top Five (5)” among the list of ministers alongside the ministers of Petroleum Resources, Finance, Defence and Foreign Affairs.

Clearly, he is one of the most important ministers in Nigeria today!

Undoubtedly, he is really seating on one of the hottest seats in the nation as he is going to come under intense national pressure to succeed in one of the most challenging, demanding, complicated and difficult assignments available in Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari obviously have the protracted multi-billion Naira Mambilla Hydro-Electric power project in Sardauna Local Government Area (LGA) of Taraba State in mind in appointing him as minister of the ministry in charge of executing the project.
As such, it is very important for the new minister to vigorously pursue and accomplish the vision and mission of the president in the project and the power sector entirely in the country so as to go down on record as the most successful minister of power in the history of modern Nigeria.

The first step towards achieving this is to ensure the commencement of the Hydro-Electric power project within the shortest time possible for completion, commissioning and commencement of operations before the end of President Buhari’s administration in 2023.
He should also consolidate on the appreciable level of progress recorded by his immediate predecessor (Chief Raji Fashola) and work tirelessly towards improving the overall operation/performance of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by boosting nationwide power/electricity generation, transmission and distribution through improving its generation capacity from the present 3,000/4000 megawatts to around 8,000/9,000 megawatts in the next four (4) years.

In his home state of Taraba, concerted efforts should also be made by the minister to ensure that all Headquarters of LGAs not yet connected to the National Grid are connected, in addition to some urban centers/rural settlements to be randomly selected within the next four (4) years.

His appointment is apparently an economic/industrial or development LIFELINE given to Taraba State by President Buhari that must be maximally utilized for the short and long-term economic/industrial or development interest/benefits of the state.
Indeed, the president has boldly empowered the state through appointing one of it’s illustrious sons as the minister of power and as the word implies, power is something, anything and everything in Nigeria’s present and future socio-economic and political equation, especially in the face of the uncertainties surrounding unfolding national events/issues in the country such as the increasing clamour for restructuring/true federalism, resource control, etc.

Thankfully, it seems Tarabans of all political, religious and tribal divides are united behind the new minister based on the unprecedented show of support extended to him since his inauguration as substantive minister of power alongside other ministers on 21st August, 2019 (barely 6 days to the 28th anniversary of Taraba State) and we can only be grateful to President Buhari for giving our dear state the best anniversary gift it can hope for since its creation on 27th August, 1991.