NERC Fails To Explain N2bn Contract Proposal

The Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Prof. James Momoh, on Wednesday, failed to tell the House of Representatives the total cost of demarcating and renovating the commission’s headquarters in spite that N2bn was proposed for completion of the project in 2021.

Momoh could not tell the House Committee on Power the contract sum, when he appeared before the lawmakers to defend the budget proposed by NERC for next year.

The committee, consequently, threatened to delete the line item from the commission’s proposal if full details of the contract were not provided.

The Chairman of the committee, Aliyu Magaji, asked, “What is the contract sum?”

Momoh said, “I don’t have the original contract sum but it (the project) is being done on a yearly basis. We can provide that if you need it.”

The accountant who accompanied the NERC boss also could not satisfy the lawmakers’ curiosity.

In his ruling, Magaji said, “I need the budgetary approval for your work. If you don’t have contract sum, we will delete this from your budget and you have zero. You have only one-line item budget and you appear unprepared. So, you should go and come back.”

Earlier, Momoh told the committee that the Federal Government plans to end estimated billing being issued by electricity distribution companies.