BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI
PORT HARCOURT— NEWLY inaugurated Presidential Task Force on Power has been pronounced dead on arrival.
General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, Mr. Joe Ajero, in a chat with Vanguard in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, noted that the setbacks and weaknesses in the power sector cannot be wished away with impulsive committees or task forces.
President Goodluck Jonathan had, in Abuja last week, reconstituted the Presidential Task Force on Power.
Ajero said the diversion of funds meant for reinvigorating the power sector was at the heart of the problem frustrating efforts aimed at improving the system, adding that task forces often lacked the political will to chase after those stealing the money and have rather become part of the problem.
He said: "In all, its self-destructive. The Elumelu House of Representatives Committee in its power sector probe report indicted persons, not faceless, for misappropriatiing over N16 billion and nobody has cared to hold those fingered accountable. Renaming task forces will not solve the problem. They are just looking for job for the boys."
He said it was also erroneous to credit recent improvement in the power sector to serving ministers or task forces whereas the field workers in the industry, particularly Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN staffers, who work under deprivations and poor welfare were the ones who make things happen.
