The Senate, yesterday, confirmed the nominations of Kabiru Taminu Turaki (Kebbi) and Prof. Chinedu Nebo (Enugu) as ministers.
Their approval was preceded by a screening session where senators took turns to question the duo.
While answering the questions, the two nominees individually proffered solutions and spoke on issues bordering on security, power, education and politics.
Prof. Nebo, who was former Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, answered questions on the challenges in the power sector. He pointedly said “uninterrupted power supply is not a mirage.”
According to him, with the unbundling of the Power Holding Company (PHCN), there were a lot of opportunities for improvement in the power sector.
“Looking at what Nigeria is trying to do, we are planning to generate 40,000 megawatts by 2020, but when you look at the capacity of Nigeria to absorb electricity, that will not be enough.”
He added that there was need for more IPPs to be involved, and argued that with increased opportunities, even those who lost out in the bidding process of the sale of PHCN could start their own infrastructure by participating in power generation, transmission and distribution.
On how he will deal with the so-called ‘mafia’ group in the power sector, Prof. Nebo noted that God would empower him to chase out the mafia, which he termed “demons and witches.”
Turaki, on his part, called for the training of the military deployed for assignments at terrorists prone areas of the country.