The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alleged that the frequent collapse of the national grid is due to the usage of substandard electric materials supplied by those he described as corrupt contractors in the power sector.
The anti-graft agency, also lamented poor implementation and execution of capital projects in the country, explained that Nigeria could not achieve infrastructural or any form of growth under such conditions.
The Chairman of the EFCC, OlanipOlukayode disclosed this at the commission’s headquarters, Abuja, on Tuesday when members of the House Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes visited him.
Speaking during the visit, the EFCC boss revealed that investigations carried out by the agency showed that contractors in the power sector, who were awarded projects to supply electrical equipment, often opted for substandard materials.
He noted that this “dubious” practice was a major cause of frequent equipment failures, outages and grid collapses as witnessed recently.
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He said, “As I am talking to you now, we are grappling with electricity. If you see some of the investigations we are carrying out within the power sector, you will shed tears.
“People who were awarded contracts to supply electricity equipment, instead of using what they call 9.0 guage, they will go and buy 5.0. Every time you see the thing tripping off, the thing gets burnt, and all of that, it falters and it collapses. It’s part of our problems.”
Speaking further, he also said the commission discovered that in the last 20 years, capital project implementation and execution in the country were not up to 20 percent.
Olukoyede said, “We discovered that in the last 15 to 20 years, we have not done up to 20% of our capital project implementation and execution. And if we don’t do that, how do you want to have infrastructural development?
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