The House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance has resolved to invite the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, to answer queries in its ongoing investigation of planned sale of power plants belonging to the Niger Delta Power Holding Company.
Others to appear before the committee are the managements of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, the Bureau of Public Procurement and the NDPHC.
The committee is to extend the invitation after grilling top officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria for two consecutive days – Monday and Tuesday – without getting satisfactory answers to questions bothering on take-or-pay agreement with a power Generation Company, Azura Power West Africa Limited, forcing the country to pay the firm $33m monthly whether it supplies power or not.
Chairman of the committee, James Faleke, said, “We will invite all these agencies. The heads of these agencies are to appear. We will communicate to them the appropriate date that will be convenient for all of us – at a later date.”
Faleke made this known at the committee’s continued investigative hearing in Abuja on Tuesday, where the lawmakers faulted the failure of the TCN to construct a power line to convey energy from Azura power plant, forcing the company to joggle the Osogbo-Benin power line between power stations.