Daily Independent (Lagos)
13 October 2008
Action Congress (AC)has called on President Umaru Yar'Adua to direct anti-corruption agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to investigate the role played by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the frittering away of $16 billion on the country's power sector between 1999 and 2007.
The call is coming on the heels of the recent submission of the report of House of Representatives Committee on Power that probed the expenditure.
In a statement in Abuja on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, AC said the committee, going by its recommendations as reported by the media, was unambiguous in calling for the probe of the former President.
AC quoted part of the recommendations as reporting that "in view of the enormity of issues entailed in the findings above, it is recommended that former President Olusegun Obasanjo should be called to account for the recklessness in the power sector during his time. The committee recommends that EFCC and ICPC should investigate him."
AC said a major issue concerning the mishandling of the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), as discovered by the committee during its televised public sitting, was the granting of waivers to several contractors to receive huge payments without commensurate work done, all in the name of fast-tracking the projects.
But in the words of the committee, rather than fast track or facilitate completion of the projects as envisaged, the waiver of due process "became the major plank that facilitated payments to contractors and consultants that have failed to perform, at the expense of the nation and the power industry.
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