Power probe: Ministry blames NASS for power failure

The Ministry of Power, yesterday, blamed the management of the National Assembly, NASS, for the power outages which disrupted Wednesday’s sitting of the Senate ad hoc committee, probing the funds expended on the power sector since 1999. This is just as organized labour in the nation’s power sector expressed fears that the probe might be another exercise in futility. The ministry, in a statement by Mr. Timothy Oyedeji, Deputy Director (Press), said the cause of the frequent power outages experienced at the sitting was not from the distribution network of Abuja Distribution Company, DISCO. The ministry said NASS, with its alternative source of power supply, could have made use of its stand-by generator for an assignment of this magnitude. According to the statement, “the official position about this unfortunate development is that it was the faulty internal electricity supply system that caused the frequent power outages and not from the distribution network of Abuja DISCO. “NASS, with its alternative source of power supply, could have put on the stand-by generator for an assignment of this magnitude, so the problem is with its internal supply system.” Meanwhile, the organized labour, on the platform of National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, recalled that the House of Representatives Committee on Power headed by Ndudi Elumelu probed the same power sector and submitted its reports, but that till date, nothing came out of it.