The House of Representatives Energy Committee on Tuesday in Abuja approached the Federal Ministry of Energy over the country’s long-standing poor supply of electricity.
Magaji Aliyu, chairman of the House Power Committee, expressed his discontent with the ministry when his permanent secretary, Nebeolisa Anako, appeared before the committee during an interactive session.
He said Nigerians were currently experiencing one of the worst electricity supply times in the entire country.
According to him, this development has caused a variety of problems that affect people’s well-being, making social living conditions very uncomfortable.
He added that it has caused the collapse of small businesses whose operations depend on a stable power supply.
He indicated that the situation has been aggravated by the increase in procedures for basic products and services for those who required electricity supply.
He said that the overheated socio-economic environment due to severely poor electricity supply had attracted a huge public outcry for immediate solutions.
He urged the ministry to also explain the technical, operational and administrative measures taken by the ministry to address the challenges and their devastating consequences for Nigerians.
“In this country there is no fuel, no electricity, no gas. They told us that we have 30,000 megawatts, but only transmission is our problem. My heart bleeds for this country, we may never get it right during our time,” he lamented.
He said that the permanent secretary only presented a thesis instead of offering a solution to the myriad of electricity problems that plague the country.
Ajibola Muraina (PDP-Oyo) said that the problem of power outages did not start now, adding that every year there is usually a water shortage, without measures being taken to correct the anomaly.
He added that the country’s inability to turn on electricity through gas was not necessary, adding that the ministry is always taking a fire brigade approach, which will not work.
“I think we are not ready to empower Nigerians. In my district, without light; they only bring it when they want to bring an invoice,” he said.
Sada Soli (APC-Katsina) said: “I don’t think the energy ministry is in charge because they don’t see it as their responsibility to deliver energy to Nigerians.
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Mariam Onuoha (APC-Imo) in her contribution stated that: “I want to assume that there is some level of conspiracy to overthrow the government as we get closer to the election year”.
He asked why critical infrastructure was nearing depletion as the country approached an election year.
The permanent secretary, for his part, said that the ministry had many problems in Nigeria’s power supply crisis, adding that it is working to solve the problem.
He said that despite improvements in power generation to a peak of 5,800MW last year and average available generation of 5,000MW, recent events have seen a temporary drop in generation of around 1,600MW.
He said the loss was now gradually being recovered as the situation stabilizes to better serve the country’s growing energy demand.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that the Federal Ministry of Energy is responsible for coordinating the power sector in Nigeria to ensure synergy among stakeholders to provide efficient power supply.
(YAYA)