The House of Representatives Committee on Power, has directed the Power Ministry to take concrete actions aimed at solving the current nationwide blackout instead of always postulating theories that do not translate into power supply to Nigerians.

The Chairman of the committee, Alh Magaji Aliyu, made the remarks when the officials of the ministry led by the permanent secretary appeared before the committee at the National Assembly.

The committee Chairman stated that there was nothing in the ministry’s presentation to show that it is solving the problems.

“There is nothing on ground to show that there will be light or generation of up to 5000 megawatts, but we keep hearing about 30,000 megawatts of installed capacity across the power stations,” he said.

The lawmaker, explained that the interactive session was necessitated by the fact that Nigerians were facing the worst energy crisis in recent times, adding that the situation has affected businesses, both small and large, which is attracting huge public outcry.

He called for the return of the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), under the supervision of the Power Ministry, saying that there is not much both the Ministry and the Committee can do if the Agency remains elsewhere.

A member from Katsina State, Alh Sada Soli, observed that the concern raised by Gencos as the major reason for the blackout, was the N1.4 trillion debt NBET is owing them as cost of generated but unused electricity.

He also noted three major concerns ranging from the quantity, quality and cost of gas delivered to them for their operations.

Other lawmakers who spoke lamented the unending projections by the Ministry that have never come to fruition.

Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of power, Mr Nebolisa Anoka who represented the Minister, enumerated the challenges facing the sector, ranging from low gas supply, low hydro levels, high cost of gas, as well as disequilibrium between power generation, transmission and distribution which led to the collapse of the national grid.

He explained that the Ministry has recently hosted an emergency meeting with key stakeholders in the gas-to-power value chain, during which far reaching resolutions were arrived at on key measures needed to ameliorate the situation.

According to him, the challenges “are not entirely predictable, but actions are being taken by the Ministry and other partner government MDAs to alleviate the challenges to the supply of electricity sustainability”.

He pointed out the issue of the right of way as stalling key transmission projects, assuring that the ministry will increase sources of supply through renewables, with a target of 30 percent generation through renewables by 2030.

The house committee finally directed the Permanent Secretary to return on Friday with more practical evidences of intended interventions.