by Isi Esene

The special assistant to the president on new media, Reno Omokri, has used his twitter timeline to inform Nigerians that the power supply problem currently plaguing the country might persist a ‘little’ longer.

He spoke about efforts being put in place by the government to improve the power situation but according to him: “If anybody says that power will improve substantially other than by this privatisation process put in place by government, that would be unlikely.”

Read through his tweets below and tell us what you think about his submission and the administration’s Power Roadmap in general.

Read tweets below:

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: On the power situation, many on twitter have tweeted at me that though power supply improved earlier in the year, things have changed.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: I do apologize to those people who have suffered setbacks in power supply. I note your complaints.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: Do consider that to solve the power issue, govt cannot keep doing the same thing.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: You may recall complaints that previous admins spent a lot on the industry without commensurate results.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: Therefore, in looking for a solution, new approaches must be used if the govt must meet the needs of the citizenry.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: It was for this reason that Mr. President launched the roadmap to power reforms on August 26th. 2010.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: The main thrust of that roadmap is that, privatization is the solution to meeting Nigeria’s power needs.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: In that roadmap, Mr. President listed timelines for privatizing the power sector.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: Only a month ago, before our eyes, that process reached a never before seen stage with the transparent opening of bids.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: Preferred Buyers have emerged for the Discos and GenCos and as the VP said successful bidders are in the process of paying.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: Do recall that this was the same process followed during the deregulation of the telco industry in 1999/2000.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: It is expected that with the successful privatization of the distribution and generation ends of the industry power will improve.

– Reno Omokri ‏@renoomokri: If anybody says that power will improve substantially other than by this privatization process put in place by govt, that would be unlikely.