Nigeria N2.7tr was spent on power in 16 years

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Nigeria spent N2.7tr on power in 16 years


A total of N2.74 trillion has so far been spent on   power from 1999 to date, a Senate adhoc committee investigating investment in the power sector in the last 16 years heard yesterday.
The amount was used to raise power generation from about 1,700 megawatts to 4,600, senior officials said.
The Senate ordered the probe before going on recess. The probe panel is being headed by Senator Abubakar Kyari (APC, Borno North). 
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Power Ambassador Godknows Igali said from 1999 to date, the ministry got N1.103 trillion. 
The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Mr. James Olotu on his part said the 10 Independent Power Plants in the country got 8.234 billion dollars (N1.6 trillion). 
Ambassador Igali said: “From 1999 to date, 1.56 trillion was appropriated to us but actually only N948bn was released to the Ministry and the entire agencies under it. This amount covers all the entire investment in value chain, “he said. 
He added that from 2009 to 2013, the sum of N155bn was also invested by the federal government to cushion the effect of the shortfall in the investment in the sector. 
“ In 2014, the power generation was 3,500 megawatts due to vandalism but for the past three months we have been generating on the average, 4,600 megawatts and there was a time that we got over 5,000 megawatts.  What is now needed is strict oversight. Things will be better very soon, “ he said. 
He recalled that in 1999, out of the 79 generation units, only 19 were functioning and that the power generation was 1, 750 megawatts. 
“The last power Dam was built in 1990 and for 19 years no single engineer was recruited. There was no consistent investment in the sector until 1999. 
“For the power sector to be improved, investment from both government and private sector must be sustained and consistent. US has 12,000 Kilowatts (KW) per hour of consumption and we have 129KW,” he said. 
He said all the monies realised from the privatisation of the power sector were used in offsetting the entitlements of the workers of the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). 
“The sum of N373bn was paid to the 46, 771 disengaged workers of the PHCN,” he added. 
In his presentation, Mr. Olotu said the investment in the National Independent Power Project (NIPP) which started in August 2005 was being funded by the three tiers of government through the Excess Crude Account. 
Out of the 10 IPPs projects, he said, seven had been completed and the rest were at about 80 percent state of completion. 
Earlier in his address, the committee chairman, Senator Kyari said the probe was not to witch hunt the stakeholders. 
At the end of the session, the committee demanded for the full audit report of the Ministry of Power and all agencies under it.  
The committee also directed the ministry and the agencies to address the grey areas noticed during the presentation before the public hearing. 
Officials of the distribution and generation companies, the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) and National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) are expected to appear before the committee today.

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