”I’m not a magician”- New Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, says as he assumes duty

The newly appointed Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has said he is not a magician but will only try his best to add value to the electricity sector.

Aliyu said this when he assumed duty at the ministry on Monday, September 6. Recall that on September 1, President Buhari terminated the appointment of Sale Mamman, the immediate past Minister of Power, and replaced him with Aliyu who was then minister of state for works and housing.

Aliyu while addressing the staff of the ministry, said he is not coming to perform magic in the sector and appealed to all stakeholders in the sector to work with him to ensure they improve the electricity supply in the country.

“I am here to work together with all of you. I listened carefully when some of you introduced yourselves with various titles working in the ministry of power. I want those titles to be translated to the production of power to Nigerians from generation, transmission to distribution. That is when our titles will make more meaning.

Otherwise, the time would come when we would be ashamed to mention our names with those titles. So, I want to ask everyone from the permanent secretary down to the smallest on the ladder by rank in any part of the ministry of power to be dedicated and committed to the task ahead.

I am not an electrical engineer or having anything to do with power in the past but I am an engineer and I know when something is going wrong I will detect it. I will not allow it and I will try my best to make amends, together with you or without you, because that is my mandate, to ensure that we succeed.

Don’t look at me as the minister of power that I have come to make magic. No, I am not a magician. I am coming to add value to what you have already been doing. So let us work together in honesty and full commitment.” he said.