The House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets has dismissed the corruption allegation against the Nigerian Electricity Liability Management Company by a civil society group, the Association for Public Policy Analysis (APPA).
It would be recalled that the Association had through its President, Princewill Okorie, accused NELMCO of misappropriation of funds, shady operations, among sundry allegations and questioned the continued existence of NELMCO 12 years after its privatisation.
At the resumed public hearing on the matter, the Deputy Committee Chairman, Dabo Ismail who also doubles as the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on the Protection of Critical National Assets said the panel took the allegations seriously and immediately launched a comprehensive investigation to unmask what truly transpired.
According to the Bauchi lawmaker, NELMCO’s existence is backed by the provisions of the Nigerian Electricity Act, 2023, thus, dismissing the position of the petitioner that the agency ought to have folded up in 2017 after the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
“We asked NELMCO to provide us with documents backing their existence and they did. Under the Nigerian Electricity Act 2023, NELMCO assumed responsibility for all the PHCN’s and successor companies’ assets and liabilities. So, this enabling law and the Committee verified this law to be true and correct”, the Chairman said.
Responding to the allegation that NELMCO spent N94m on a five-day retreat in Lagos, the Managing Director of NELMCO, Mojoyinoluwa Dekalu-Thomas expressed the readiness of the agency to provide evidence of the expenditure incurred in the course of the training.
“The Director General of the Debt Management Office, the Director General of the Bureau for Public Procurement, my executive directors, two non-executive directors, facilitators-25 people in all spent five days at the Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos and we have pictures and documentary evidence to support this”.
“We paid for flights, logistics, food, accommodation and that is where the N94 m went. It was not a one-day event but a five-day retreat and the Minister of Power was there for the entire retreat. This is documented too,” a claim supported by the Committee”, she said.
According to Ismail, the N94m “Is justifiable considering the dignitaries that attended the five-day retreat.”
Another member of the committee added that at the Eko Signature Hotel Lagos, “A moderate room is N650, 000 per night. Five nights for 25 people will cost N81m, no feeding, no ticketing. This figure (N94m) might be big in our eyes, but I think it is justifiable.”
