The Future Group (TFG) has called for a halt in the proposed sales of five of the Nigerian National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), describing it as a bad move that would further plunge the power sector into a deeper crisis, injurious to the economy and the Nigerian populace.
This is even as the group has also called on the Federal Government to relieve the Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE), Alex Okoh, of his job for allegedly conniving with others to dupe Nigerians of their commonwealth while calling for his immediate prosecution on account of the pending case of contempt of court over the sales of Aluminum Smelting Company of Nigeria (ASCON) Ikot Abasi.
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In a widely circulated petition titled; Stop Okoh … Save Nigeria, to the National Assembly, EFCC, ICPC, the Presidency, the Judiciary, Civil Society Organisations and others, signed by its Chairman, Patrick Philip, the group drew the attention of the Federal Government and the general public to the dangers of the sales and allowing Okoh to continue to oversee BPE, which is put in charge of the proposed sales, as he is a person of interest in the entire saga.
The group noted that the NIPPs was established in 2004, stating that; “the programme was an intervention that aimed to improve government funding in the critically ailing electricity sector. However, 18 years past the project launch, there are contending conversations surrounding the Federal Government’s proposed sale of five NIPPs.
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‘‘Insufficient electricity supply has always been an issue in Nigeria, inhibiting the development of the country’s industries and overall economic growth. In 2004, President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration launched the NIPP to address the challenge of power generation specifically. The project’s objectives also included curtailing the immoderate gas flaring from oil exploration.’’
