Photo:Power Outages Disrupt Senate's Power Probe

The Senate’s committee investigating the power sector was on Wednesday  disrupted by repeated power outages at the venue of the hearing.
The power cuts, which occurred in frequent intervals, aroused suspicion and prompted the visibly irritated Chairman of the ad hoc Committee on Power, Senator Abubakar Kyari, to investigate the disruptions during the hearing.


The situation compelled those making submissions to either use the light from their phones or the glow from video camera to make their presentations.

The probe which began at 11:30Am on Wednesdays was a continuation of the hearing which started on Tuesday, but was ruined by persistent power failure which forced the committee to adjourn at 4.00 pm.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali, was making his submission on behalf of various electricity companies,that lasted for 10 to 15 minutes.

They continued during presentations by the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Ezreal Dikki; Chairman of National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi; and some of the managing directors of electricity distribution companies (Discos).
Angered by the development, Kyari assured his audience that the committee would beam its searchlight on the unwholesome development.

“The power outages experienced here today further underscore the relevance of this committee at this critical time but we shall investigate whether they are deliberate or not,” he said.