EFCC Blames Corrupt Contractors for National Grid Failures
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has attributed the frequent collapses of Nigeria’s national electricity grid to the use of substandard materials by corrupt contractors in the power sector. The anti-graft agency also highlighted poor project execution as a critical factor hindering the country’s infrastructural growth.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, made this revelation during a visit by the House Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday. Olukoyede explained that corrupt practices in the awarding of contracts to supply electrical equipment had led to the installation of subpar materials, contributing to the instability of the national grid.
“As I am talking to you now, we are grappling with electricity. If you see some of the investigations we are carrying out within the power sector, you will shed tears,” Olukoyede stated. He detailed how contractors, instead of using the required 9.0 gauge for equipment, often resort to purchasing cheaper 5.0 gauge, resulting in frequent equipment failures, outages, and grid collapses. “Every time you see the thing tripping off, the thing gets burnt, and all of that, it falters and it collapses. It’s part of our problems,” he added.
The national grid has experienced 10 collapses this year, with the most recent incident plunging 17 Northern states into darkness for over a week due to attacks on electricity towers by bandits. The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has previously attributed these failures to obsolete infrastructure.
In addition to the issues in the power sector, Olukoyede also noted that poor implementation of capital projects had compounded the country’s infrastructural challenges. “We discovered that in the last 15 to 20 years, we have not done up to 20% of our capital project implementation and execution. And if we don’t do that, how do you want to have infrastructural development? How do you want to grow as a nation?” he questioned.
He revealed that the EFCC’s mandate for the year was to collaborate with the National Assembly to improve capital project execution, aiming for a 50% completion rate. “Lack of implementation of this capital project, capital budget, is one of our major problems in Nigeria. And if we are able to tackle that effectively, we will make progress as a nation,” Olukoyede concluded. Labour Leaders: Governors Delaying N70k Wage Violate Rights
