By Yemie ADEOYE

FOLLOWING several aspersions cast on the federal government over its electricity reform agenda as well as incessant power outages years after the Power Roadmap was launched, the federal Government has given a detailed insight into happenings in the power sector.

The Minister of Power Professor Bart Nnaji, made this disclosure at the annual Herbert Macaulay Memorial Lecture organized by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The Minister also took a swipe at the two main industrial unions in the power sector, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and its senior staff counterpart, (SSAEIC) accusing them of selfishness and insensitivity.

In an effort to emphasize government’s passion for transparency the Minister also told his audience that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) now participates in the bid handling process, especially during the acceptance of the bidding documents.

“Electricity has long been recognized as the fulcrum of modern development. In other words, modern civilization is driven by electricity. Yet, electricity supply in Nigeria has over the decades been anything but satisfactory. The Nigerian press has an imagistic word for the performance of the power sector: epileptic. Still, electricity supply and the performance of the entire sector did not seize the popular imagination until 2010, despite the enactment of the Electric Power Sector Reform (ESPR) Act in 2005.