A total of N2.74 trillion has been spent on the power sector since 1999, Godknows Igali, permanent secretary at the ministry of power, revealed on Tuesday.
Despite this revelation, the sector has remained one of the most problematic, as unstable electricity supply has looked an unsolvable problem.
Speaking at an investigative hearing of the senate ad-hoc committee on power, Igali identified a lack of adequate investment in the sector as one of the factors that militating against it.
Citing loopholes in the law regarding the power sector, he disclosed that no engineer was employed in the sector for 11 years.
“Since 1999, the sum appropriated is N1,565,638,385,735 and actual release was N948,212,192,810, including all the value chain and all agencies,” he said.
“What was released under Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) from 2009 to 2013 under subsidy is N155,089,910,730 to cushion the shock of the slash in tariff.’
He disclosed added that the Nigeria Integrated Power Project (NIPP) received $8.3 billion (about N1,66trn) from excess crude account to fund 10 power plants projects during the period, adding that the projects had been completed.
Igali said out of 79 generating plants in the country as at 1999, only 19 were functional, generating only 1, 750 megawatts.
“When democracy came, the government inherited the sector that had not made capital investment for a long time and not a single engineer was recruited in 19 years,” he said.
“Despite the effort at investment by government, we have not been able to invest in a consistent manner in the power sector. Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) requested for N147 billion in 2011, but it was allocated only N45 billion, out of which only N30 billion was released and that has been the story.”
After the presentation, the committee questioned some of the investments made in the sector during the period and requested the ministry to furnish it with the detail.
It directed that the audited account of the ministry showing all investments and expenditures as well as details of supplementary budgets should be submitted.
Responding, Abubakar Kyari, chairman of the committee, said: “We want to see cooperation between all agencies in the power ministry and know if there is any overlap that acts as constraint in the function of the sector.”
He commiserated with the ministry over the loss of some of its staff who were restoring critical power infrastructure across the country.
“We will give you notice on other issues we have with the power sector; we shall continue our interaction tomorrow with Gencos, Discos and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC),” Kyari added.
The senate ad-hoc committee on power, which was inaugurated in August, was mandated to carry out an inquest into the sector from 1999 to 2015.
The committee began its hearing on Tuesday.
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