The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has attributed frequent collapse of national grid to the usage of substandard electric materials supplied by those he described as corrupt contractors in the power sector.
The anti-graft agency, which also lamented poor implementation and execution of capital projects in the country, explained that Nigeria could not achieve infrastructural or any form of growth under such conditions.
Ola Olukoyede, the Chairman of the EFCC, disclosed this at the commission’s headquarters, Abuja, on Tuesday when members of the House Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes visited him.
Daily Trust reports that no fewer than 17 Northern states were thrown into darkness for more than one week following frequent collapse of the national grid due to attacks on electricity towers by the bandits.
The grid has recorded 10 collapses this year, plunging the entire country into darkness. The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has blamed the trend on obsolete power infrastructure.
Speaking during the visit, the EFCC boss revealed that investigations carried out by the agency showed that contractors in the power sector, who were awarded projects to supply electrical equipment, often opted for substandard materials.
He noted that this “dubious” practice was a major cause of frequent equipment failures, outages and grid collapses as witnessed recently.
He said, “As I am talking to you now, we are grappling with electricity. If you see some of the investigations we are carrying out within the power sector, you will shed tears.
“People who were awarded contracts to supply electricity equipment, instead of using what they call 9.0 guage, they will go and buy 5.0. Every time you see the thing tripping off, the thing gets burnt, and all of that, it falters and it collapses. It’s part of our problems.”
Speaking further, he also said the commission discovered that in the last 20 years, capital project implementation and execution in the country were not up to 20 percent.
Olukoyede said, “We discovered that in the last 15 to 20 years, we have not done up to 20% of our capital project implementation and execution. And if we don’t do that, how do you want to have infrastructural development?
“How do you want to grow as a nation? So, our mandate this year is to work with that directorate and with the National Assembly to see if we can meet up to 50% of our execution of our capital project for the year
“If we do 50%, we will be fine as a nation. Lack of implementation of this capital project, capital budget, is one of our major problems in Nigeria. And if we are able to tackle that effectively, we will make progress as a nation.
“So, we are doing everything to see how we can prevent that with your support.”
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