The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede has cited fraud as the cause of the recent troubles in the electricity sector in Nigeria.
Olukoyede made this position at the headquarters of the Commission in Abuja on Tuesday when the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes visited.
According to him, the frequent collapse of the national grid is linked to fraud in the electricity sector, especially the use of poor and substandard materials.
Olukoyede said, “As I am talking to you now, we are grappling with electricity. If you see some of the investigations we are carrying out within the power sector, you will shed tears.
“People who were awarded contracts to supply electricity equipment, instead of using what they call 9.0 guage, they will buy 5.0.
“So, every time you see the thing tripping off, gets burnt, and all of that, It’s part of our problems.”
The EFCC boss also said that the agency would be putting more energy into preventing crime than recovery in the coming days, adding that concentration would be more on the spending of ministries and agencies of the Government Agencies.
The issue of electricity in Nigeria has become frustrating and dreadful as the National grid has collapsed almost 20 times in this year.
