Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala Responsible For Poor Power Supply?
Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
The House of Representatives Committee on Power, on Tuesday, blamed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the darkness enveloping the country.
Okonjo-Iweala, according to the committee, should apologise to Nigerians over the irregular power supply in the country, which, it said, was due to the non-release of money allocated to the power sector.
She
was also blamed for the Federal Government’s refusal to provide funds
for the running of power generation and distribution companies in the
2013 budget.
Chairman of the
committee, Mr. Patrick Ikhariale, said, during a meeting with the
companies, the Ministry of Power and the Bureau for Public Enterprises
that government stopped funding the companies on the excuse that they
were being privatised.
Ikhariale added, “What we have witnessed in the last few months is a monumental embarrassment.
“Nigerians
are suffering of irreparable loss during this period; lives have been
lost. At a point, somebody needs to tell Nigerians as to what happened,
it is not enough for you to come here and tell us that the ministry had
been given some money to be given to the companies to cushion the
effect.
“The committee’s interest in
the sector is paramount. We are witnesses to what is happening in the
power sector; that is the downward trend.
“What we generate today is a far cry from what is expected.”