$33 million monthly payment to Azura power company signed by three persons — Reps

The House of Representatives has picked holes in the $33 million paid monthly to Azura power company located in Edo State, alleging that two or three persons may have sat to commit Nigeria to the agreement without commensurate value for money.

The House Committee on Finance expressed the view at the resumed investigative hearing on the proposed sale of the National Integrated Power Plant by Bureau of Public Procurement where the representatives of the Transmission Company of Nigeria could not give satisfactory answers to issues raised on the persistent epileptic power supply, with huge amount of money paid to power generation companies.

The trio of Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider, Mr Victor Adewumi; Director Market Operator, TCN, Edmond Eje, and Mr Ogwu Benedict in charge of agreements had appeared before the committee to give explanations.

But the lawmakers could not come to terms with how the authorities signed an agreement with Azura on take-or-pay to commit $33 million monthly on 450 megawatts, whether generated or not.

The committee chairman, James Faleke, said it was difficult to accept that such an amount was paid to one company.

Faleke, who felt disappointed in the representatives of TCN, especially the market operator, ruled in a motion to summon the TCN Managing Director, Sule Abdulaziz.

The lawmaker said he was not particularly confused over the back and forth of the representatives that could not specifically explain how many megawatts of electricity had been evacuated from Azura from 2017 till date.

He said, “I am not confused. Transmission Company of Nigeria, first your MD took permission, according to you, to see the minister, rather than coming to explain to Nigerians and to clarify issues.