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  The Senate has raised the alarm on how the Ministry of Power allegedly smuggled over N7 billion smuggled into the Ministry’s budget without an appropriation from the National Assembly. The Senate has observed that there was no evidence that such money was budgeted for in respect to the Hydropower Transmission Project in either the 2014 or 2015 fiscal year. Senator Matthew Urhoghide, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Edo South led Senate Committee on Public Accounts, raised the alarm on how the Ministry allegedly spent such amount of money without getting approval from the National Assembly in line with the law. The Committee is relying on the query raised by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in the 2015 report and brought before it for probe and subsequent presentation to the Senate at Plenary. The Urhoghide led Committee, however expressed shock on how  N7 billion could appear in the Ministry’s  Account when the 2015 budget was not passed then and the...

  Premium Times report shows how Nigeria’s regulatory agency’s staff share billions as perks while Nigerians are burdened with increased electricity tariff that has left many consumers unable to pay. Nigerians have always raised doubts about the neutrality of NERC, but the report by Premium Times exposes a high level of compromise by the officials of NERC. The report is reproduced below At a time many Nigerians are grumbling about the increase in electricity tariff, commissioners and members of the board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), have illegally paid themselves billions as salaries, severance entitlements and to purchase exotic cars, which were allegedly registered in their names, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt. The decisions of the commissioners are in clear violations of the extant regulations such as the Procurement Act 2007 and the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005. PREMIUM TIMES is in possession of a petition sent to the Economic and Financial Crim...