Power Probe: Reps Frown At Absence Of Concerned Agencies, Operators

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating power sector reforms and expenditure from 2007 to 2024, has frowned at the continued refusal of key government agencies and private sector operators to appear before it or submit requested documents.

At its resumed investigative hearing on Friday, the committee’s chairman, Hon. Ibrahim Almustapha Aliyu, said members had waited for more than two hours without a single stakeholder present despite being scheduled to interface with at least seven ministries, departments, agencies, and power companies.

Aliyu said the attitude of the invited stakeholders amounted to outright disrespect for the National Assembly and a deliberate attempt to frustrate a constitutionally mandated probe into nearly two decades of reforms and trillions of naira spent in the electricity sector.

“We adjourned to reconvene today by 11 a.m., but as of 12:30 p.m., not one stakeholder has shown up,” the chairman said. “Members have been here waiting for over two hours, yet those invited to clarify critical issues in this investigation are nowhere to be found. This is unacceptable,” he said.

Aliyu said that while a few organisations had written to request extensions, many others neither acknowledged the committee’s letters nor provided any reason for their absence.

He said the poor compliance was slowing down the investigation and raising serious concerns about transparency within the power sector.

Aliyu noted that the committee had taken pains to ensure letters were delivered, even addressing logistics challenges relating to contact addresses, yet several institutions still didn’t acknowledge receipt or made submissions.

“Let it be clear: the National Assembly cannot be ignored,” he said. “This committee will not allow any institution—public or private—to decide on its own which invitation to honour and which to discard. We will not be undermined,” Aliyu said.

He directed the committee secretariat to compile a detailed compliance chart tracking acknowledgements, document submissions, and appearances at the hearings to guide its next line of action and give Nigerians a transparent view of the level of cooperation received so far.

“If after all these opportunities, they continue to avoid this probe, we will not hesitate to issue summons and take further steps within the powers granted to us,” he warned.

“Accountability is not optional. This investigation is in the national interest

“This exercise is too important to be trivialised,” he said. “We must trace every naira released, every project approved, every contract executed, and every promise made to Nigerians,” he stated.