The Senate on Thursday constituted an 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.
Announcing the 13-man ad-hoc committee, Senate President, Bukola Saraki urged members of the committee to consider their reputation and integrity and come up with a report that would be acceptable to Nigerians.
He lamented that a lot of money had been spent on the sector with no results, while Nigeria is still faced with the challenge of power supply.
The committee which has Senator Abubakar Kyari, APC, Borno North, as chairman, was also saddled with the responsibility of looking into irregularities in the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
Thursday’s action of the Senate would inadvertently probe how the Obasanjo, Umaru Yar‘adua and Jonathan administrations managed funds allocated to the sector.
A similar probe ordered by the House of Representatives into the sector in 2007 under the stewardship of Ndudi Elumelu quickly degenerated into controversy as it was alleged to be a witch-hunt.
Another probe ordered by the Senate in that era under the stewardship of Senator Nicholas Ugbane also ended in controversy. Both Ugbane and Elumelu were in 2010 indicted by the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of involvement in an alleged N5.2 billion contract scam in the Rural Electrification Project of the Federal Government.
Other members of the committee as announced, yesterday, were Senators Mohammed Hassan, Ali Wakili, Godswill Akpabio, Mao Ohuabunwa, Aliyu Wammako, Shaaba Lafiagi, Olusola Adeyeye, Babajide Omoworare, Fatima Razaki, Ighoyota Amori, Mustapha Bukar and Dino Melaye.
According to the Senate President, inadequate power supply in the country was a cause for concern as it had affected economic growth, stressing that besides corruption, lack of power supply had plunged the country into further hardship.
Senator Saraki while …Read More
Source:: New Mail
