Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday said recession in Nigeria started more than three years.
Fashola, said this yesterday at a media briefing to commemorate his first year in office.
Fashola pointed out that workers retrenchment and the drop in purchasing power of an average citizen eroded as far back as 2013.
He, however, expressed the hope that the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was on the road to making Nigerians smile once again.
The minister insisted that electricity generation in Nigeria has improved considerably in the last 12 months, peaking at above 5074MW for the first time in the nation’s 63-year-old electricity history earlier this year.
“This has created jobs for hitherto idle artisans, small and medium scale entrepreneurs and empowered other businesses.
“More than 800 containers of imported power generation and distribution components stranded at the ports for between three and eight years, have been released.”
He regretted that about 3000MW of electricity was lost to vandalism, adding, however, that the Federal Government was discussing with agitators in order to put an end to the destruction.
The minister appealed to electricity consumers to be patient with distribution companies over insufficient prepaid meters, noting that the privatization of the sector was only three years old.
He said that the meters would soon be readily available as more companies embark on their production in Nigeria.