The House of Representatives will on Monday quiz the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over the unilateral planned sale of five power plants otherwise known as National Independent Power Plants (NIPPs), belonging to the three tiers of government without following due process.
The five NIPP plants are Benin Generation Company Limited at Ihovba, Edo State, Calabar Generation Company Limited, Cross River State, Geregu Generation Company Limited, Kogi State, Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited, Ogun State and Omotosho Generation Company Limited, Ondo State.
Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abiodun James Faleke, said the purpose of the investigative hearing was to address the alleged breaches of the agreement and perennial power failure in the sector.
The lawmakers are also expected to launch an investigation into the alleged breach of agreement and perennial power failure in the country.
At the last Friday’s investigative hearing, the lawmakers expressed concern over the payment of $33 million monthly as a power purchase agreement with Azura Power Company by the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) for taking and paying power even without commensurate result.
The lawmakers who accused NBET Managing Director, Nnemeka Eweluka of expunging portions of the agreement that required the opinion of the Minister of Justice before any agreement is signed, frowned at the domiciliation of the arbitration process for the Azura power agreement in France.
Worried by the development, Hon. Faleke who presided over the session said: “On behalf of Nigerians we are concerned by the agreements you signed with power generation companies and Nigerians are not getting that power.
“So, any documents that has to do with those agreements cannot be said to be classified because whatever money we are paying is taxpayers’ money, and they will like to know how the funds are being utilized.
“We are interested as a committee to know the officers in charge of these agencies, who signed agreements on behalf of Nigerians. Do they take the necessary things into consideration before signing it? Are Nigerians getting value for money from these agreements?
“The power sector has been unable to meet the power needs of Nigerians. We hear of all kinds of bailouts the CBN has made to the power sector without any changes in the power Nigerians receive.
“There are two take or pay agreements, that we’ve heard exist in the power sector. When they say take or pay, it means that the government agencies here signed an agreement with an investor for a fixed amount of commodity, like power to supply to Nigerians.
“In a very simplified form, what this means is that whether the total or the amount that the agency signed is taken or not, the agency still pays the investor for that fixed amount it signed with the investor,” he noted.
Hon. Faleke in the letters dated 18th July 2022 sent to the Minister of Finance, Minister of Power, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprise, Managing Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company and the Managing Director, Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company, argued that the planned sale is being carried out without “due regards to constitutional principles and economic policy that informed the establishment of those power plants.
“The committee decried the proposed sale as uneconomical and a disservice to all known principles of national development and the sharing equity among the three tiers of government.”
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