Nigeria sees fresh allegations of fraud in power industry

As part of ongoing investigations operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided the Nigeria Electricity and Regulatory Commission (NERC) over fresh allegations of flouting due process in the award of N 2 bn contract. An official of the commission was also arrested and is presently in the custody of the anti-graft agency.
An EFCC source told that the contract was payment for consultancy fees made between 60 % and 100 % upfront.

The source said, "Some of the contracts were awarded in January this year and back dated to June last year because of the deadline placed on award of contracts in government agencies."
"Our operatives discovered that N 100 mm was used to organise two conferences, one in Enugu and the second one in Lagos." According to the official, "the last one held in Lagos was a stress management conference and it gulped over N 48 mm."

Already the chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr Ransome Owan, and six commissioners of the agency have been suspended pending the conclusion of EFCC investigations. Owan and the six commissioners were arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on February 4, for alleged N 1.5 bn fraud.
EFCC Head of media and publicity, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the arrest of the NERC official as part of ongoing investigations.