Outage disrupts Senate power probe •Committee alleges sabotage, vows to investigate
September 9, 2015
•We lose N20bn monthly –Investors
Written by:
Taiwo Adisa and Ayodele Adesanmi -Abuja
THE power probe the Senate ad hoc committee on power suffered a setback on Wednesday, as power outages persistently disrupted the investigative hearing.
The committee had kicked off a two-day investigative hearing on Tuesday, ahead of a planned public hearing on the state of power supply in the country.
But the Wednesday’s sitting suffered several power outages, which disrupted presentations by critical stakeholders.
Power went out at least eight times, in 10 to 15 minutes interval, leading to the resort to usage of rechargeable lamps, torchlights and telephone camera lights.
The presentation of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali and that of the committee chairman, Senator Abubakar Kyari, were interrupted by the power outages, just as other critical stakeholders, including the Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Ezreal Dikki; chairman of National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi and some of the managing directors of electricity distribution companies (DISCOs).
Many of the dignitaries were frustrated as the source of power was intermittently changing from generators to public power and, at a time, many resorted to improvised illumination like rechargeable lamps.
A frustrated chairman of the investigative committee, Kyari, said the lawmakers suspected sabotage and that the senators would investigate the cause of the incessant disruptions.
The Wednesday session had started at 11.30 a.m. but ended about 4.00 p.m., after no fewer than eight interruptions due to power outage.
Igali suffered the most, as his presentation was severally disrupted. He was making a submission on behalf of the various electricity companies.
Others that suffered similar fate included the Director-General of BPE, chairman of NERC and some of the managing directors of Discos as well as Senator Kyari.
Kyari told newsmen after the sitting on Wednesday that the committee would investigate the cause of the series of outages during the session.
“The power outages experienced here today further underscores the relevance of this committee at this critical time, but we shall investigate whether they are deliberate or not,” he said, adding that the planned public hearing on the power sector would soon hold.
In his submission, the Managing Director of Enugu Distribution Company, Mr Robert Dickerman, who spoke on behalf of the Discos said the companies were losing the sum of N20 billion on a monthly basis.
He stated that power investors in the country were running at huge losses due to a variety of factors.
According to him, the power sector was burdened by a huge deficit of N20 billion per month, as a result of the non-metering of over 50 per cent electricity consumers, while another 30 per cent of consumers were not on the billing system of electricity providers.
He also alleged that the Federal Government was yet to pay the N100 billion subsidy injection promised the sector.
His submission was corroborated by the Chief Executive Officer of Ibadan Electricity Generating Company, Adeoye Fagbembi, who spoke on behalf of the six generating companies (Gencos).
He said the losses being incurred by the Gencos and electricity distributors had been a big issue.
Director General of the BPE, Benjamin Dikki, however, said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had paid N5 billion out of the N100 billion promised by the Federal Government.
He also agreed that the sector was presently being run at a loss by the investors.
Dikki said the initial hiccups were, however, envisaged by the Bureau, adding that such challenges were embedded in the performance agreement reached with the investors.
Amadi said that the allegations that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) would soon be privatised by the Federal Government was false.
The NERC chairman insisted that the government had no plans to sell the TCN as a result of the sensitivity of that particular component of the power sector.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Kyari, reacted to reports of the amount spent on the power sector since 1999, as reported in the newspaper on Wednesday.
He said the final figurew would be more than N2.7 trillion quoted by the media as, according to him, only the Ministry of Power and the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) submitted the amount which totalled N2.7 trillion.
He said the committee would arrive at the final figure when all agencies concerned had submitted their report of expenses.
