The Senate has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a separate minister to take care of power to facilitate higher performance in the sector.
Former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fasola, has been the minister in charge of Works, Power and Housing since the inception of the Buhari administration in 2015.
Adopting a motion sponsored by Senator Mustapha Bukar (APC-Katsina) on the “Need to Establish and Delegate Special Purpose Vehicles to Execute and Operate Major Power Sector Development Projects”, the Senate sought the immediate incorporation of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for the implementation of alternative energy projects. It equally sought the use of gas as the source of energy for the Kaduna project in accordance with the original concept.
Defending his motion earlier, Bukar noted that the Federal Government in 2004 conceived the idea of an integrated power project which metamorphosed into the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) incorporated in 2005. “This was in government’s quest to bridge the power gap for sustained economic growth in Nigeria by adding significant new generation capacity to Nigeria’s electricity supply system,” he said.
He noted that the National Assembly enacted the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005 on March 11, 2005, which kick-started the process of privatisation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). This, he said, was in a bid to develop a Competitive Electricity Market with the establishment of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The function of NERC is to provide for the licensing and regulation of the entire value chain of the Nigerian Electricity Market (NEM).
“The privatisation became effective on Nov.1, 2013 when the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was sold and transferred to successful bidders of the six generation companies (GENCOs) and the 11 distribution companies (DISCOs).
“The ownership and control of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was retained by the Federal Government for strategic reasons,” he said.
The lawmaker further said that consequent upon the commencement of the privatisation and establishment of the NEM, the role of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing was restricted.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Eyinnaya Abaribe, said the committee was already making moves towards securing greater efficiency for the sector.
“We are working toward ensuring that these concerns that have been raised by this motion are looked into.“The ministry of power today is combined with works and housing and the thrust of the ministry is to give quality direction. But what we find is that the ministry continues to appropriate these jobs that are specifically meant to be done by agencies under the ministry,” he said.
Ekweremadu said every talk about growing the economy would not work unless the power sector was repositioned. The lawmakers summoned the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, for a briefing on his plans to protect people in mining communities. They mandated the Committee on Environment and Solid Minerals to visit affected communities and ascertain the levels of damage.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) and four other senators on lead poisoning in Zamfara State.The chamber further directed the Committee on Environment to investigate activities of the Ministry of Environment with regard to the mining sector.
Meanwhile, Fayemi has disclosed significant gains made by the mining sector, saying improved funding and planning could soon make the industry break Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil.