Under-performance: Reps Mull Scrapping NDE, NEMSA

An Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating Overlapping Functions of Government Agencies, has suggested that the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the National Electricity Management Agency (NEMSA) be scrapped as the agencies were not living up to their mandate of providing employment to teeming unemployed Nigerians and there is weak metering system by electricity distribution companies in the power sector respectively.

The committee also demanded a five-year performance assessment report from the NDE for it to justify its existence in line with the mandate of the probe panel.

Chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Victor Mela, gave the ruling at an investigative hearing where NEMSA, NDE, NELMC and NAPTI were invited and grilled by the Committee, said that the agencies have not lived to the expectations of Nigerians.

He informed that the House Committee was inaugurated Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila to investigate the issue of overlapping mandate of some of the government agencies, adding that there was the need to merge some of the agencies.

At the hearing, managing director of NEMSA, Engr.mAliyu Tukur, said that the agency was established in 2015 by federal government to ensure that there is reliable electricity supply in the nation’s power industry.

He also said that the agency is mandated by law to ensure that materials used in the industry are of confirmed technical specifications, adding that theragency is in-charge of quality metering.

For his part, the director-general of NDE, Mr Abubakar Nuhu, said that the agency is mandated by law to provide employment to unemployed Nigerians and vulnerable persons residing in Nigeria.

He said, “the agency have presence
in all the states of the federation and local council areas and had been providing employment and skills for unemployed Nigerians in line with the mandate.”

But the House Committee chairman Hon. Mela and a a member of the panel, Hon. Simon Karu, said that there is massive unemployment and the agency had not really lived up to the responsibility.

Hon. Karu immediately moved a motion that the agency should provide a five-year performance assessment report on employment generation or it should be recommended for merger by the panel.

The lawmaker also threatened zero allocation to the National Power Training Institute in the 2023 Budget for its failure to address issues of power failure.

The Adhoc Committee chairman and members adopted the motion and gave the NDE one week to submit the report.