By Etuka Sunday with agency report
Despite being the sectors saddled with the responsibility of ensuring adequate power supply for the country, the Federal Ministries of Power and Petroleum Resources and their various agencies will spend a total of N213.64m to fuel and maintain generators as well as other transport equipment this year.
According to the 2015 budget proposal now before the National Assembly, both ministries will spend N141.65m on the maintenance of plants/generators and fuel during the period.
A breakdown of the 2015 Appropriation Bill for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources shows that five of its agencies will spend N101.11m on plants/generators fuel in 2015; if the budget is approved.
The Petroleum ministry, according to the 2015 budget proposal, has six agencies and only one, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, has no allocation for fueling plant/generator.
The other five agencies are the Department of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Training Institute, Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency, the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority and the Petroleum ministry headquarters.
A total of N26.26m was specifically allocated to plants and generators maintenance in the Petroleum ministry; N27.4m to transport equipment, and N9.879m to other maintenance services.
Although no amount was earmarked for fueling of generators in the agencies under the Ministry of Power, N13.98m was budgeted for the maintenance of plants/generators, N30.76m for transport equipment, and N4.25m for other maintenance services.
Of the eight agencies under the Power Ministry, three have no allocations for generator, equipment and other maintenance services.
They are NERC, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company.
Other agencies under the power sector with allocations for generators/plants maintenance are the headquarters itself, Rural Electrification Agency, Electricity Management Services Limited,
National Power Training Institute of Nigeria and the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company.
The ministries of Power and Petroleum Resources are two key government agencies that have been promoting the generation of adequate electricity by power companies for local consumption.
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