The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the National Electricity Management Agency (NEMSA) were accused of failing to fulfill their responsibility to give work to the vast number of unemployed Nigerians by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee looking into Overlapping Functions of Government Agencies yesterday.
The committee also claimed that the power sector’s deficient metering practices by electricity distribution corporations.
The MPs also required the NDE to provide a five-year performance assessment report to support its continued operation following the investigation panel’s directive.
At an investigational hearing to which NEMSA, NDE, NELMC, and NAPTI were invited by the Committee, the Chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Victor Mela ruled that the agencies had not lived up to residents’ expectations.
Mela mentioned that the House Committee was established by the House Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to look into the issue of several government institutions’ mandates conflicting with one another and that some of the agencies needed to be merged.
NEMSA’s managing director, Engr. Aliyu Tukur stated during the hearing that the organization was founded in 2015 by the federal government to guarantee a steady supply of electricity for the country’s power industry.
Tukur stated that the agency is in charge of quality metering and that it is required by law to verify that the materials used in the sector meet verified technical criteria.
Members of the Committee Hon. Adedeji Olajide and Hon. Zacharia Yanpan, however, lamented that the government was having a difficult time funding them despite expressing their displeasure with their overall performance in the electricity industry. They claimed that the agency’s mandate overlaps with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria.
According to Mr. Abubakar Nuhu, director-general of NDE, the organization is required by law to give vulnerable and jobless Nigerians living in Nigeria employment opportunities.
However, Hon. Mela and Hon. Simon Karu claimed that there was a significant unemployment problem and that the agency had fallen short of its obligations.
Karu then proposed that either the panel suggest that the agency be merged or that it give a five-year performance assessment report on employment generation.
