Senate begins probe of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, others over power funds mismanagement

THE Senate will today begin an inquest into
alleged mismanagement of funds appropriated to the
power sector from the Olusegun Obasanjo civilian
administration to date.
In a statement, yesterday, by the Clerk of Senate ad
hoc Committee on Power, Cletus Ojabo, the power
sector probe will be in the form of investigative
hearing/interactive session, just as there was an
indication that former ministers of power will also be
in attendance.
According to Ojabo, the investigation would centre
on funds appropriated for the power sector since
1999 and the unbundling of the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria, PHCN, adding: “ It is expected
that all those who played key roles in the power
sector since 1999, including ministers and heads of
government departments and parastatals, will appear
before the panel.”
It will be recalled that Senate President, Bukola
Saraki, had last month announced a 13-man ad hoc
committee to carry out a holistic investigation into
the management of funds appropriated to the power
sector from the Olusegun Obasanjo civilian
administration to date.
Senator Saraki had urged members of the
committee to consider their reputation and integrity
and come up with a report that would be acceptable
to Nigerians. He lamented that a lot of money had
been spent on the sector with no results, while
Nigeria is still faced with the challenge of power
supply.
The committee, which has Senator Abubakar Kyari,
(APC Borno North) as chairman, was also saddled with
the responsibility of looking into irregularities in the
unbundling of the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, PHCN and to also probe how the Obasanjo,
Umaru Yar‘Adua and Jonathan administrations
managed funds allocated to the sector.
The committee was charged with the task of looking
into the entire power value chain including
generation, transmission and distribution with a view
to identifying what the problems in the sector are.
Saraki, who noted at the inauguration of the
committee three weeks ago, that the task before the
panel is huge, had however, frowned at the
continued absence of regular supply of electricity
despite the country’s huge investments in the sector.
Kyari, in his remarks during the inauguration,
detailed the nature of the investigation his
committee is saddled with,saying, “ To have a close
look at the entire power value chain (generation,
transmission and distribution) calls for a review of
our policies in order to obtain optimum
performances across the board.
According to him, “the abysmal performance of the
generation segment is no longer news in view of the
current deteriorating power supply which hovers
around 4,600MW for a population of over 170 million
people, despite the huge resources committed into
it.”