From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives has said it is set to probe $2 billion investment, including grants, into renewable energy from 2015 to date.
Chairman, House Committee on Renewable Energy, Afam Ogene, in a statement, yesterday, said the investigation which would commence tomorrow, would seek to unravel how the funds were spent.
The House had, on June 6, adopted a motion on “the need to investigate investments in renewable energy sector and foreign grants received from 2015 till date.”
According to the motion, the Federal Government in 2020, launched a $200 million renewable energy project, funded by the African Development Bank. Tagged: ‘Nigeria Electrification Project,’ the project was aimed at providing off-grid energy to over 500,000 people across 105,000 households in rural communities.
It added that in December 2023, the World Bank approved a $750 million facility to boost renewable energy in Nigeria, with the goal of providing over 17.5 million Nigerians with improved access to electricity through distributed renewable energy solutions.
Ogene explained that the committee would probe ministries, departments and agencies that played roles in investment, procurement, and receipt of grants for the development of the renewable energy sector.
Consequently, he noted that the panel has invited the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to appear before it.
The lawmaker added that also to appear before the committee are NASENI Solar Energy Ltd, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Country Representative European Union, Union Bank Plc (Compliance Department), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Federal Ministry of Power, Energy Commission of Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Finance, among others.
“Despite the government attracting over $2 billion in renewable energy investments in the past decade, as reported by REA in 2023, there has been no noticeable improvement in the sector.
“The House of Representatives was alarmed that the dysfunctional electricity generation and supply system persists, contrary to the objectives behind the government’s investments and grants aimed at developing the renewable energy sector, hence the resolution to probe these investments to determine the integrity of the procurement and execution processes.”
Ogene further stated that the investigation was not to witch-hunt anyone but to promote transparency in the handling of public resources.