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Jonathan, Yar’Adua and
Obasanjo
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The Senate, yesterday, constituted an ad-hoc Committee to carry out
a holistic investigation into the management of funds appropriated to the power
sector from the Olusegun Obasanjo civilian administration to date. Announcing the 13-man ad-hoc committee, yesterday,
Senate President, Bukola Saraki urged members of the committee to consider
their reputation and integrity and come up with a report that would be
acceptable to Nigerians. He lamented that a lot of money had been spent on the
sector with no results, while Nigeria is still faced with the challenge of power
supply.
Vanguard report continues:
The committee which
has Senator Abubakar Kyari, APC, Borno North, as chairman, was also
saddled with the responsibility of looking into irregularities in the
unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
Yesterday’s action of the
Senate would inadvertently probe how the Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Jonathan
administrations managed funds allocated to the sector.
A similar probe ordered
by the House of Representatives into the sector in 2007 under the stewardship
of Ndudi Elumelu quickly degenerated into controversy as it was alleged to be a
witch-hunt. Another probe ordered by the Senate in that era under the
stewardship of Senator Nicholas Ugbane also ended in controversy. Both Ugbane
and Elumelu were in 2010 indicted by the Economic & Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, of involvement in an alleged N5.2 billion contract scam in
the Rural Electrification Project of the Federal Government.
Other members of the
committee as announced, yesterday, were Senators Mohammed Hassan, Ali Wakili,
Godswill Akpabio, Mao Ohuabunwa, Aliyu Wammako, Shaaba Lafiagi, Olusola
Adeyeye, Babajide Omoworare, Fatima Razaki, Ighoyota Amori, Mustapha Bukar and
Dino Melaye.
According to the Senate
President, inadequate power supply in the country was a cause for concern as it
had affected economic growth, stressing that besides corruption, lack of power
supply had plunged the country into further hardship.
State of power
lamentable —
Saraki
Speaking on the issue
yesterday, Senator Saraki said: “We thought that with the Power Reform Act and
unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), we
will begin to witness an improvement with regard to power supply, but
unfortunately it is not so. The ad-hoc
committee we will set up should look at the activities of the DISCOs and what
is preventing Nigerians from benefitting from the unbundling of the PHCN.”
Also worried by the
security challenge in the North East geo-political zone of the country and the
need to assist the military in nipping in the bud, the activities of members of
Boko Haram, the Senate, yesterday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to, as
a matter of urgency, ask the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to
reconnect Maiduguri, the Borno State capital to the national grid.
The Senate which also
condemned inability of TCN to provide continuous and uninterrupted power supply
to all parts of the country, however, expressed concern that Nigeria with a
population of over 150 million produces only 4,600 megawatts, while South
Africa with a population of about 45 million people produces more than 40,000 megawatts.
The Senate resolution was
upon a motion titled: “Disconnection of Maiduguri from the National Grid and
General Power Degeneration in Nigeria” and presented by the Leader of the
Senate, Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume.
In his motion, Senator
Ndume observed that the disconnection from the national grid and degeneration
of power supply across the country had affected economic activities because of
the collapse of several industries, even as he expressed concern that with an
installed power generation potential of about 5,000 MW, the output distributed
today was about 1,950 megawatts of energy.
According to him, it
was disheartening to note that Iran with 70 million people generates about
42,000 megawatts, while South Korea with about 35 million people generates
about 60,000 megawatts of electricity.
Speaking further, Senator
Ndume, who complained that the situation had grounded economic activities in
the state, said: “I buy diesel to run my generator and that costs me N10,000
per day. No country can be said to be near development when there is no power.
This Senate needs to investigate to give the government support. For years now,
a lot of money has been spent but there is nothing to show for it.”
Also, speaking, Senator
Danjuma Goje, APC- Gombe Central who noted that the motion was apt in view of
the untold suffering the lack of power supply had caused Nigerians, said: “The
problem of power was on before 1999 and I am surprised that up till today, the
power sector is grappling with insufficient power supply.
Senators condemn poor
power generation, distribution
Senator Goje, who served
as Minister of State (power) during the Obasanjo administration added: “This
motion is apt because there is a need to find out what happened in spite of the
unbundling and huge amount so far spent.”
On his part, Senator
Akpabio (PDP- Akwa Ibom North West) who lamented that many companies had shut
down due to irregular power supply in the country, stressed that in spite of
the financial contribution by some states in the South to improve power supply,
Nigerians were still grappling with lack of electricity supply, adding: “In
2015 we are celebrating 4,000 megawatts. For me this is worrisome. We cannot
have employment without power and Nigerians are complaining about the
high cost and some localities who have not seen light for months are
asked to pay high tariff.” Akpabio said the 8th Senate should do all within its
power to assist the Federal Government in bringing an end to the problem.
POWER: Nigeria squanders
N6.52 trillion on darkness since 1999
If comments of former
Nigerian leaders are anything to go by, the country, in the last 16 years spent
US$29.635 billion or N6.52 trillion on power with little or nothing to show for
it.
While the administration
of former President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly spent US$16bn (N3.52 trn), his
successor, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, expended US$5.375bn or N1.183trn
while immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration spent US$8.26bn
(N1.817 trn).
Piqued by the poor power
situation, late President Yar’Adua, on assuming power in 2007 said that “the
government under President Olusegun Obasanjo wasted US$10bn on the National
Independent Power Project, NIPP with little or nothing to show for it.”
Then House of
Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, put his own figure at US$16bn and
proceeded to set up a committee headed by Ndudi Elumelu to probe the billions
of dollars spent on the independent power projects.
The Ndudi Elumelu-led
committee concluded its investigations and submitted its report, but
nobody was ready to account for how the US$16bn spent on the sector failed
to yield “commensurate result”.
Then it was discovered
that about 2,500 containers of imported power equipment worth about US$5bn were
abandoned at the Lagos ports with the demurrage generated by the abandoned
equipment put at over N4bn.
Investigations revealed
that the equipment formed part of the US$16bn that was expended within Obasanjo’s
eight years.
Following the 2007 change
in administration that brought in Yar’Adua as president, the funding
arrangements for NIPP were subjected to intensive legal, political and
financial scrutiny, resulting in over two-year interruption in funding for the
projects.
After a protracted and
intensive debate on the way forward, however, the National Economic Council
(NEC) under Yar’Adua agreed later in 2008 to set aside an additional US$5.375bn
from the ECOA as a Power Emergency Fund to complete NIPP subject to the
approvals of all the state legislative houses.
By official Niger Delta
Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) figures, at the time of the suspension, US$2.8bn
was already invested in NIPP, including US$1.78bn in funded letters of credits
which allowed some of the projects to continue despite the funding
interruption. Contracted commitments totalled US$7.385bn.
While campaigning in
2011, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then the presidential candidate of of
the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), said that both President Goodluck
Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo have questions to answer, if he
was voted into power.
Speaking at a presidential
debate organised by NN24, a television outfit, Buhari said he was not satisfied
with the effort by the government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since
1999. “We need to know how much has been spent so far. Over $16bn was spent by
Obasanjo regime, yet we don’t have power. Also, the government under Jonathan
said we now have over 4,000 mega watts, yet our people don’t have the power,”
he said.
Dr. Jonathan last February
21 disclosed that the Federal Government had invested about US$8.26bn in the power
sector through the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), in the bid to
boost the electricity generation capacity in the country by over 4, 700MW.
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