The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has apologised to Nigerians over his comment that they keep their freezers and air conditioners on when they are not at home.
Adelabu clarified during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday that his comment was not meant to offend the sensibilities of Nigerians.
Recently the Minister of Power remarked that Nigerians lack a culture of managing power consumption, attributing it to the affordability of electricity supply.
This came on the heels of the increment in electricity tariffs for customers under the Band A classification by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
“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”, Adelabu had said.
“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”.
The minister’s remark received widespread criticism from many Nigerians who questioned his management of the Ministry of Power.
Addressing the criticisms, Adelabu stated that his remark came from his strong desire for positive change within the power sector.
“It was never intended to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians in any way. I never said people should switch off their freezers”, Adelabu said.
“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, 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”.
