SAN FRANCISCO, November 12, (THEWILL) – The Senate, Thursday, accused distribution and generation companies (Discos and Gencos) of compromising staff of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) who are board members in their companies with exotic cars as ‘privileges.’
Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Power said the development might not be unconnected with the inability of BPE to carry out its functions effectively.
The investigative public hearing is currently investigating investments in the power sector between 1999 and 2014, and the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Chairman of the committee, Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this while addressing stakeholders at the second day of the public hearing in Abuja.
He said the implications of such action was that the affected staff might not be able to discharge their duties of protecting the interest of the Federal Government, which still maintained 40 per cent equity in the firms
“There are some staff of the BPE that are board members of Generation Companies and Distribution Companies who were given Prado and Land Cruiser Jeeps,” he affirmed.
A member of the committee and Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi, said the alleged compromise of the BPE staff had affected the necessary coordination between the power firms and the Ministry of Power.
He opined that: “With the action of the staff, it seems that the BPE is short-changing the country.”
Director-General of the BPE, Benjamin Dikki, said his agency had never been compromised in its responsibility of ensuring a perfect process of privatising the sector for efficient service delivery.
Dikki denied ever collecting gratification in any form in the course of discharging his responsibilities, but asked the Senate to direct further investigation on the alleged car gifts to the affected firms.
“We are there to protect Nigeria’s interest. Whether the privileges are right or not, I don’t know. I take exception that we have short-changed the government. We balanced the interest of government and investors because what we are looking for is investment. We need to create an enabling environment for the business to thrive,” he said.
This comes as a former minister of power, Bello Suleiman, urged the Federal Government to investigate the privatisation of the power sector carried out by the BPE.
Suleiman, who is also a former managing director of the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), was one of the resource persons at the two-day public hearing.
He said: “There is an urgent need for independent scrutiny of the privatisation exercise in the power sector. The perception is that it has not been transparent; a committee of experts should do it. “
He also cautioned the country against privatising the Transmission Company of Nigeria because doing so would be technically wrong.
Suleiman also advocated the use of solar technology, which he described as a viable means of increasing power generation.
“The experts should examine whether the companies are capable to financially and technically take the country to the level of the 40,000 megawatts. If we do nothing now to ensure that they are the right persons, at the end of the day we may fail,” he said.
“The whole idea of the privatisation is that investors would bring money to the sector but in the last 15 years, government has been spending billions on the power sector.”
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