The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) Executive Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has blamed corrupt contractor practices for Nigeria’s national grid’s frequent outages.
Olukoyede stated this when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes visited the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday for an oversight visit.
Concerns about how corruption and financial crimes have impeded the country’s progress were voiced by Olukoyede. He pointed out that unethical power industry practices, like acquiring inferior materials, were major causes of equipment malfunctions, blackouts, and frequent grid collapses.
The EFCC chairman claims that over the past 15 to 20 years, the country’s budget performance has been continuously subpar, with implementation frequently falling below 20%.
He noted that the frequent outages of the national grid have been caused by inadequate equipment that electricity companies have purchased.
What the boss of the EFCC said
The chairman of the EFCC bemoaned Nigeria’s inadequate capital project implementation and execution, emphasizing that, in such circumstances, the nation cannot achieve economic growth or infrastructure development.
The EFCC’s investigations revealed that power sector contractors frequently chose to use inferior materials when they were given electrical equipment supply projects.
“As I speak to you, we are having trouble with electricity. He continued, “You will cry if you see some of the investigations we are conducting within the power sector.”
Olukoyede also disclosed that, during the previous 20 years, the nation’s capital project execution has been woefully inadequate, with performance levels falling below 20%.
How do you want infrastructure development to proceed if we don’t do that? How do you wish to develop as a country?
This year, our task is to collaborate with the National Assembly to determine whether we can complete up to 50% of our capital project by the end of the year. We will be alright as a country if we do 50%. One of our biggest issues in Nigeria is the failure to implement this capital budget,” he said.
Cooperative Action with Lawmakers
Olukoyede underlined that in order to effectively combat corruption in Nigeria, cooperation and collaboration with all parties involved are essential.
He urged lawmakers and the EFCC to work together more closely in order to carry out the commission’s mandate to combat financial crimes.
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“If the mandate before you—which is before us—is handled well and efficiently, Nigerians will remember it for a long time.” One of the main issues threatening Nigeria’s progress is this.
Effectively combating financial crimes and corruption is a duty that both you and the EFCC have. Therefore, it is appropriate that we collaborate,” Olukoyede stated.
Fighting corruption to promote national development is a shared objective between the EFCC and lawmakers, according to the commission’s chairman.
What you ought to be aware of
The country is currently experiencing a severe blackout after the national grid collapsed twice in less than a week this month, according to earlier reports.
The stability of the electrical infrastructure and its effects on homes and businesses nationwide have come under scrutiny as a result of this string of outages.
This most recent collapse is the tenth grid failure in 2024, and three of these incidents happened in October. This has increased concerns about the grid’s dependability and the urgent need for power sector reforms.43
