Nigeria Power Sector Needs a Declaration of Emergency — Ahmed Lawan

The Nigerian Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has implored the executive to open an inquest into the power sector by declaring a state of emergency.

Lawan further revealed that the country may face insurmountable problems in the future; if it is not redressed.

He made this call on Monday, December 9; while declaring open a one-day round-table discussion with the theme: “Addressing Nigeria’s Power Problems” organized by the Senate Committee on Power.

The Senate President said the privatization of the power sector in 2005 and 2013; was a grand scheme conceived with the intention to defraud Nigeria.

He said, “For me, if there’s any sector of our economy that is so important and yet so challenged; it is the power sector. I believe that this is a sector that needs a declaration of emergency.

“This is an opportunity for us in this round-table to exhaustively discuss; not only the problems of the power sector in Nigeria but the solutions and way forward.

“The truth is that we all know what is wrong. What we really need to do is to have the political will to take on the challenges generally.

“From the electricity power reform of 2005 to the privatization of Gencos and Discos and to what is happening today, we know that everything is a fraud. If we play the ostrich, in the next ten years we will be talking about the same things.

“I think the time has come for us to have courage,”he said.

The exercise had led to a takeover of the power sector by private Generating Companies (Gencos) and Distribution Companies (Discos).

He added that the National Assembly would make a significant contribution to the reform of the power sector; through enabling legislation required to turn around the fortunes of power generation and distribution in Nigeria.