Reps summon ministers, BPP, NERC, 2 others in power probe

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance on Tuesday summoned the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and her Power counterpart, Abubakar Aliyu, over the planned sale of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) power plants.

The committee also invited the management of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), and the NDPHC to explain the rationale behind the planned sale of the power plants.

The upper legislative chamber had also quizzed the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on the take-or-pay agreement with a power Generation Company, Azura Power West Africa Limited.

In the agreement, the Federal Government pays $33million to the company monthly with or without power supply.

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The House had last month directed the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) to suspend the planned sale of the Calabar, Ihovbor, Olorunsogo, Omotosho and Geregu power plants.

The Chairman of the committee, James Faleke, who announced the invitation during Tuesday’s hearing in Abuja, said the committee would communicate the appropriate date for the meeting in a few days.

He said: “We will invite all these agencies. The heads of these agencies are to appear. We will communicate to them the appropriate date that will be convenient for all of us – at a later date.”

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