A human rights advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, on Wednesday said that corruption in the power sector is the reason Nigerians are still wallowing from darkness to darkness.
The group stated this in a report released in Lagos, detailing how over N11tn had been pumped into the power sector since 1999 by successive governments with nothing to show for it.
SERAP, in the 65-page report titled, “From darkness to darkness: How Nigerians are paying the price for corruption in the electricity sector,” concluded that the funds were squandered under the administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
It said the perennial poor power supply in the country was proof of corruption in the power sector.
The group therefore demanded for the probe and prosecution of certain principal actors in the power sector, including a former governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, and Prof. Prof. Chinedu Nebo, for their alleged roles in the power sector scam.
SERAP said, “The Obasanjo’s administration spent $10bn on NIPP with no results in terms of increase in power generation. $13.278,937,409.94 was expended on the power sector in eight years while unfunded commitments amounted to $12bn.
“The Federal Government then budgeted a whopping N16bn for the various reforms under Liyel Imoke (2003- 2007) which went down the drain as it failed to generate the needed amount of electricity or meet the set goals.”
An associate professor of Energy/Electricity Law at the University of Lagos, Yemi Oke who presented the report, on behalf of the group to the press said, “The country has lost more megawatts in the post-privatisation era due to corruption, impunity, among other social challenges as reflected in the report.
“The much-publicised power sector reforms in Nigeria, under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, have yet to yield desired and anticipated fruits largely due to corruption and impunity of perpetrators, regulatory lapses and policy inconsistencies. Ordinary Nigerians continue to pay the price for corruption in the electricity sector–staying in darkness, but still made to pay crazy electricity bills.”
Fiery Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), commended SERAP for the project, vowing to ride upon the recommendations in the report to institute appropriate legal actions against the government.
He said, “This report is a must read, and I promise to lead in the follow-up litigation efforts to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations of the report.”
Meanwhile, the EFCC has promised to look into the report. The EFCC Director of Public Affairs, Osita Nwajah, who represented the acting acting chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ibrahim magu at the event gave the assurance.
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