The House of Representatives is to investigate Federal Government’s Power Recovery Programme, it emerged yesterday.
The House said there were lots of differences and incompatibilities in the draft programme in spite of the huge fund committed to sector over the years.
Committee on Power has therefore been mandated to investigate the Programme with a view to resolving the incongruities in the Draft Power Sector Recovery Programme.
This followed the decision of the adoption of a motion by Yunusa Ahmed Abubakar (APC, Gombe), who noted that the distress and inefficiency that has bedeviled the power sector in Nigeria despite the privatization of power sector in September 2013.
He said: “In spite of the huge costs committed to implementing power sector projects throughout the federation, the sector has failed to deliver value as power supply has become erratic while many parts of the nation are without electricity supply.
“Wthout government intervention, the cumulative shortfall of about N1trillion will put the sector at risk of insolvency, leading to loss of investors’ confidence.
“We are conscious of the fact that the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in conjunction with the World Bank and other institutions has created a Power Sector Recovery Programme [PSRP] with a view to attaining financial viability for the sector and to rehabilitate the Nigeria electricity supply industry.
“Also of concern is, though the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) proposes solutions to address financial concerns, the PSRSP does not propose a solution for fixing the critical business, infrastructural and technical flaws resulting in the power sector performance failure and market shortfall being experienced.
“We are however concerned that the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) does not hold private companies accountable for their proportionate share of accountability.
“We are aware that the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) requires the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) to raise debt for funding the programme being the manager and administrator of the electricity pool in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
“It is worrisome that the implementation of the PSRP targeted at merely paying liabilities will create a platform for squandering scarce financial resources without effectively eliminating the root causes of power sector problems in Nigeria”.
The motion was unanimously adopted after it was put to a voice vote and the Committee was given four weeks to carry out its assignment.
Source:The Nation
