Nigeria may
lose N20 trillion to corruption in the power sector in the next 10 years if
urgent steps are not taken to check the rate of government funding.
An
electricity law expert and lecturer at the University of Lagos, Yemi Oke,
stated this yesterday in a 64-page report presented in Lagos, adding that the
expected loss in revenue was coming amidst dwindling fortune and recurrent
revenue shortfalls.
The report
titled: “From Darkness to Darkness: How Nigerians are Paying the Price for
Corruption in the Electricity Sector Agenda,” was released by the
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in collaboration with
the Mac Arthur Foundation.
It detailed
findings in the power sector, which were dashing Nigerians’ hope of efficient
and regular power supply. Stressing the importance of energy to the economy,
Oke, who authored the report, said the total financial loss to corruption in
the sector since the return of democracy in 1999 was over N11 trillion,
representing public funds, private equity and social investment or divestment
in the power sector.
He lamented
that the Federal Government did not earn money from the power sector
privatisation as its assets were sold to cronies and politically exposed
persons who could not make impact in the sector.
Nigerians,
he said, would continue to grope in darkness with more fund and increased
tariff because of corruption aided by lack of effective monitoring and
supervision, as well as the top-down model of electricity governance in the
country.
He added
that institutional decay and the corruption by sector officials and other
stakeholders in the power sector, coupled with the current structural
arrangement and institutional impropriety, among others, would continue to
undermine the sector.
Oke,
therefore, stressed that there was the need for the Federal Government to
revisit the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) scandal to send strong signals
that corruption in the power sector would no longer be tolerated.
Speaking,
Femi Falana, who chaired the occasion, challenged the 36 states to stop going
to Abuja to get licences to generate electricity in their domains.
He described
the report as a must reading for all Nigerians, saying it is very revealing and
provoking that Nigerians were victims of darkness caused by corruption in the
power sector.
Falana,
therefore, urged the Lagos State government to lead the battle to take the
management of power from Abuja.
Executive
Director of SERAP, Adetokunbo Mumuni, said the idea of the report supported by
Mac Arthur Foundation was premised on the many effects of corruption in the
power sector on ordinary Nigerians who are forced to generate their own
electricity and the crazy bills phenomenon.
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