Reps Foreclose FG’s Power Supply Target

The House of Representatives Committee on Power has
expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of work on projects aimed at meeting
Federal Government’s power supply targets as part of the sector’s reform
agenda.

Chairman of the committee, Hon Patrick Ikariale, who led
members of the committee to Port Harcourt for an oversight function, lamented
the shortcomings in the power sector reforms, saying that these may affect the
government’s ability to meet set targets.

The legislator blamed the situation on “unfulfilled
rhetoric, primordial sentiments and political considerations”.

He regretted that these forces have collectively worked
together to disable the reforms, thereby making it impossible for government to
get to the root of the problem in efforts to solve the supply hiccups.

Addressing management staff of Power Holding Company of
Nigeria (PHCN) at Afam Power Station, Hon Ikariale said the major problem
plaguing the Nigerian economy; especially the power sector was the incapacity
to adequately fund the over bloated recurrent and capital expenditures.

The lawmaker regretted the penchant for successive
governments to spend colossal amount of money on construction of huge
infrastructure and allow such facilities to rot without proper care and
maintenance.

He urged that the lawmakers in the state to examine and
evaluate the level of implementation of the projects in the 2012 budget as part
of their oversight function of the utilisation of allocations by government
ministries, departments and agencies.

Ikariale noted with dismay, that findings reveal that most
of the MDAs were not remitting releases to them accordingly, resulting in the
slowdown of the economy.

While cautioning that privatisation as an option for
revitalisation of the economy might not be a panacea, except it is done “with
diligence and taken to its logical conclusion”, Ikariale emphasised that “those
buying up the firms and construction companies must be made to understand that
they are just buying stakes but must ensure value to what is on ground.”

Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, Afam Power Plc, Leo
Ofurum, had listed lack of proper funding as one of the major challenges faced
by the Afam power plants in carrying out their assigned mandate to Nigerians.

Ofurum said: “For over 14 years, we have been out of
funding, the installed facilities are underutilised because of lack of proper
maintenance, and this affects the production capacity.”

He said that the existing facilities, which were supposed to
produce 450megawatts are now producing 90megawatts, and called for proper
funding to enhance the plants’ generation, distribution and transmission
capacity.

Beemene Taneh