Today, the Senate will begin an inquest into alleged
mismanagement of funds appropriated to the power
sector from the Olusegun Obasanjo civilian
administration to date. In a statement by the Clerk of
Senate ad hoc Committee on Power, Cletus Ojabo,
yesterday, the power sector probe will be in the form
of investigative hearing/interactive session.
According to Ojabo, the investigation would centre
on funds appropriated for the power sector since
1999 and the unbundling of the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
He said:
" It is expected that all those who played key
roles in the power sector since 1999, including
ministers and heads of government departments
and parastatals, will appear before the panel."
It will be recalled that Senate President, Bukola
Saraki, had last month announced a 13-man ad hoc
committee to carry out a holistic investigation into
the management of funds appropriated to the power
sector from the Olusegun Obasanjo civilian
administration to date.
The committee, which has Senator Abubakar Kyari,
(APC Borno North) as chairman, was given the
responsibility of looking into irregularities in the
unbundling of the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, PHCN and to also probe how the Obasanjo,
Umaru Yar'Adua and Jonathan administrations
managed funds allocated to the sector.
The committee was charged with the task of looking
into the entire power value chain including
generation, transmission and distribution with a view
to identifying what the problems in the sector are.
Saraki, who noted at the inauguration of the
committee three weeks ago, that the task before the
panel is huge, had however, frowned at the
continued absence of regular supply of electricity
despite the country's huge investments in the sector.
Kyari, in his remarks during the inauguration,
detailed the nature of the investigation his
committee is saddled with,saying, " To have a close
look at the entire power value chain (generation,
transmission and distribution) calls for a review of
our policies in order to obtain optimum
performances across the board.
According to him, "the abysmal performance of the
generation segment is no longer news in view of the
current deteriorating power supply which hovers
around 4,600MW for a population of over 170 million
people, despite the huge resources committed into it.
Vanguard
AbleMoJah® Nigeria.
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