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
Te
British man and his wife who claimed their baby was swapped at birth
and sold to traffickers were last night reunited with their lost son.
Investigators tracked down the child by ordering other new mothers to
have their babies DNA tested.
