$33m, House Committee Invites Ministers of Finance, Power, BPP, and Others to Discuss Azura Power Deal

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

The $33 million Azura power purchase agreement is the subject of an invitation from the House of Representatives Committee on Finance to the Ministers of Power, Finance, and the Directors of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Nigeria Bulk Electricity Transmission (NBET), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The heads of all the agencies were invited to Abuja yesterday by the chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. James Faleke, who is looking into alleged contract violations and the country’s ongoing power outages.

Faleke stated that the invited agencies would be informed of the right date before being summoned before the committee to discuss their roles in the power sale.

On August 19, the Committee had disclosed that the nation had agreed to a take-or-pay agreement that required a monthly payment of $33 million.

The Committee revealed that since the contract was signed, the Azura power plant had not been able to supply the 450 megawatts of electricity promised to TCN to the national grid. Faleke subsequently instructed TCN’s Managing Director, Mr. Engr. Sule Abdulazeez, to present the company’s 2002 budgetary allotment, the contract it was awarded, and the certificates it had issued for a power transmission line.

He said that if Azura was going to demand payment in dollars for electricity generated, Nigeria should do the same for electricity consumed from the national system.

However, the Committee requested that the TCN send it a copy of its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for 2010 and its audit report, along with a critique of how the TCN spent its IGR outside of budgetary provisions.