TheCable

The senate committee on power says it will invite Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, to explain how close to N2 trillion injected into the power sector was spent.

Speaking at a meeting of the committee in Abuja on Thursday, Gabriel Suswam, its chairman, said Sale Mamman, minister of power, also has explanations to make on why so much money has been spent on the sector and there is little to show for it.

Suswam said the probe of his committee is in line with a resolution passed by the upper legislative chamber mandating a probe on interventions made by federal government overtime.

He said on different occasions, the government injected N213 billion, 201 billion, N701 billion and N600 billion into the sector and yet the country is only able to generate about 4,000 megawatts of electricity.

“That money has run into almost N2 trillion, one would expect ordinarily that there should be improvement from where we were,” Suswam said.

“It would be recalled that the senate had a motion on the floor about a week ago when the committee on power was mandated to investigate comprehensively the power sector especially in areas as it relates to intervention.

“That is why we are inviting all stakeholders who are concerned to come before the senate and explain to Nigerians what has happened to the huge sums of money.”

The chairman said his committee wants to know the cost of producing a kilowatt of electricity the capacity of the country’s power plants.

The Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Generation Companies (GenCos) and Distribution Companies (DisCos) are among some of the stakeholders invited to a appear before the committee.