The Federal Government has denied allegations that
progress of work on power projects in the country was being hampered by the
non-release of funds by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
A
statement by the Ministry on Wednesday said the Federal Government has so far
paid a total of N72.2 billion to the Federal Ministry of Power for
implementation of the power road map.
The
allegation made by the Chairman, House Committee on Power, Patrick Ikhariale,
the statement said, is completely wrong and “tends to personalize an important
national issue. It also betrays a limited understanding of the current status
of power sector financing which the administration of President Jonathan has
made a key priority in the implementation of the Power Roadmap.
“As
stated in a news release issued on by the Ministry on May 23, the Federal
Ministry of Finance has paid a total of N72.7 billion to the Federal Ministry
of Power so far this year to cover various items in line with the
implementation of the Power Roadmap
The
statement said the amount includes the sum of N45 billion paid to PHCN workers
as part of the power privatization programme and also includes the sum of
N5 billion paid for the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO).
“Other
beneficiaries include the Power Ministry headquarters, Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, National Rural Electrification Agency, National Electricity Regulatory
Commission, National Power Training Institute, National Electricity Liability
Management Limited/GTE (NELMCO) and Bulk Trader.
“A
breakdown of the figures shows that N59,089,522,721 billion was paid in the
first quarter while N13,733,822,832 has been paid so far in the second
quarter”.
The
statement added that against this background, the notion that the Coordinating
Minister is personally responsible for current power supply challenges facing
the country is absolutely wrong and cannot be justified by the facts.
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