The managing director of NBET, Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, was subpoenaed for failing to show up before the House Committee on Finance to explain the organization’s power and budget transactions.
Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, the managing director of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET), has been called before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance about electricity contracts.
Mr. Ewelukwa will respond to inquiries about the $10 million per month Arco Gas contract and the $30 million per month Azura power deal.
After Mr. Ewelukwa failed to show up for the committee’s ongoing 2023 budget defense, the committee issued the summons.
On Thursday, Mr. Ewelukwa was requested to appear before the Committee.
The NBET MD was on annual leave, General Manager of Corporate Services Abba Aliu told the MPs while defending the budget on behalf of the MD. He claimed that on Friday of last week, the MD started his leave.
James Faleke (APC, Lagos), the committee’s chairman, stated that the letter of invitation was delivered on Wednesday and that Mr. Ewelukwa left on Friday in order to avoid testifying before the committee.
He read our letter and made the decision to take time off due to item five, the Azura and Arco gas problem. He cannot incur such debt on this nation and then flee. He needs to appear before us.
He ruled, “We hereby summon the managing director of NBET to appear before this committee on Thursday, without fail, in accordance with the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution.
Saidu Abdulahi (APC, Niger), the Vice Chairman of the Committee, had earlier stated that the MD should have suspended his leave in order to appear before the committee to defend the agency’s budget and respond to inquiries about the power deals.
This explanation doesn’t seem plausible to me. In order to emphasize the significance of this particular exercise, we all showed up in large numbers to receive the budget from the president on a Friday, which is not our parliamentary day, the chairman stated.
“In this instance, we wrote a letter to the commission, and I’m confident that the MD received it before starting his leave.
He would have made an exception for only one day to be here if he gave what we are doing such importance.
More importantly, we must insist that the MD of NBET appears, even if it is only for a day, due to item number five on the letter. Before we pass the budget, he must appear to defend it, he insisted.
Also speaking, Taiwo Oluga (APC Osun) said the MD is notorious for avoiding appearing before committees.
“I believe the MD is avoiding the parliament. It has happened before. To put it on the record, the MD would avoid this committee,” the woman remarked.
“There are delicate matters that he needs to communicate to us about, therefore we should demand until the MD is accessible to address this committee and the country as a whole. So staying away from the parliament won’t solve the problem, he continued.
The same committee, according to Okay.ng, reportedly questioned the $30 million per month Pull Call Option Agreement (PCOA) negotiated with investors for the Azura power project in August.
