The House of Representatives on Thursday, berated the Minister of State for Power, Jedy Agba over the incessant collapse of the national grid, leading to repeated power outage across the country.
Chairman of the Committee on Power, Hon. Magaji Aliyu during an investigative hearing on the development lamented that it has closed down so many businesses, as the panel also faulted the minister for disagreeing with key players in the power sector, leading to the continued power outages across the country, stressing that the engagement was to find lasting solution to problem in the country.
Aliyu said infrastructural development of any nation depends on steady power.
“We are not here to blame anybody, we just want to hear from you who are stakeholders in the power sector so as to find ways of ending the problem. If there is any support you want from us we urge you to bring up so we address it properly,” he said.
The committee urged the minister to play along with professionals so as to restore power and revive ailing businesses in the country.
Also speaking, a member of the committee, Hon. Blessing Onu, told the minister to live up to his responsibility by ensuring that Nigerians have stable power supply despite the challenges confronting the sector.
“Give us power, Nigerians are crying, businesses are dying, Nigerians do not want to know what ever your challenges are as they believe there are enough resources to fix the problems”, she stated.
Making submissions, Executive Secretary of the Association of Power Generating Companies, Joel Ogaji, told the lawmakers that were it not for the organisation, the power sector would have long shut down as all the national grid were managed by machines of the generating companies, arguing further that if the federal government does not put the relevant players in the sector to task, the issue of power failure will remain an impediment to infrastructural development in Nigeria.
