The House of Representatives’ Committee on Power, on Tuesday, berated the Federal Ministry of Power over the recent failure in the electricity supply chain, saying it had caused hardships for Nigerians.
Consequently, the committee asked the ministry to take concrete steps towards ending the current nationwide blackout.
The Chairman of the committee, Magaji Aliyu, at an investigative hearing on the recent collapse of the national grid, stated that Nigerians are not impressed by the figures being bandied about by the Federal Government on the megawatts of electricity generated and supplied without feeling the reality.
In his opening address, Aliyu said, “It may be recalled that Nigerians whom we represent experience one of the worst moments of electricity supply across the country. This development has caused a variety of problems affecting peoples’ welfare which makes social living conditions very uncomfortable.
“It has caused the collapse of small businesses whose operations depend on stable electricity supply. The situation has also aggravated the increased process in commodities and services, especially those that require electricity supply.
In his presentation, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Nebolisa Anoka, who represented the Minister, Abubakar Aliyu, listed the challenges facing the power sector, stage by stage, ranging from low gas supply, low hydro levels, high cost of gas, as well as disequilibrium between power generation, transmission and distribution, which led to the collapse of the national grid.
Nasarawa community protests eight-month outage, slams power firm
Anoka also explained that the ministry, in its response to the challenges, recently called an emergency meeting with key stakeholders in the gas-to-power value chain. According to him, the meeting reached far-reaching resolutions on the key measures to be taken to address the situation.
The committee, however, dismissed the explanations made by the ministry.
