Patrick Ugeh and Juliana Taiwo
1 March 2008
Abuja — The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Dr. Abdullahi Aliyu, yesterday disclosed yesterday that former president Olusegun Obasanjo actually sent a supplementary bill for $16 billion for investment in power projects to the National Assembly, which was passed, but was never implemented.
Aliyu was speaking when the Minister of State for Energy (power) Mrs. Fatima Ibrahim inaugurated various task forces to monitor the performance of projects under the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), respectively.
This revelation is coming on the heels of the announcement by President Umaru Yar'Adua that his administration had initiated urgent action to double Nigeria's current electricity generation capacity by March next year and make power outages a thing of the past by the year 2011.
The permanent secretary carefully explained the disparity between the claim by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, that Obasanjo spent $16 billion on Nigeria's power sector, and that of President Umaru Yar'Adua who put the figure at $10 billion.
Aliyu, who said there was no need to probe the issue, explained that although there was a request for the $16 billion supplementary budget which was passed by the legislature, it was not released.
Bankole had said recently that if the country could plan and monitor output in the power sector periodically, "we would be able to prevent a situation where $16bn was spent on power reforms with negative results."
He fingered "poor budget planning and the lack of proper oversight by the relevant bodies" over the $16 billion that was spent, describing it as a colossal waste.
The task forces inaugurated by the minister yesterday were on PHCN power generation plants for the existing stations at Kainji, Jebba, Shiroro, Egbin, Afam, Delta, Sapele, Ijora and Calabar; and one for new PHCN/NIPP power generating plants at Omotosho, Papalanto, Alaoji and Geregu. Others were the task force on the transmission grid, distribution, marketing and service delivery.
Yar'Adua had on the second day of his visit to China this week set 2011 as the year when Nigeria would overcome its power challenges "so that we can successfully fast-track our economic growth."
He said the Nigerian government will welcome Chinese investors who want to partner in the use of coal as the nation explores all possible sources for additional power generation.
Yar'dua also announced that his administration was redirecting government's policies in the agricultural sector to focus on large-scale commercial agricultural production with the full collaboration of the private sector.
"We are going to create agricultural clusters in which the federal government will provide necessary inputs like water, power and transportation to support the large-scale production of crops in which Nigeria has a comparative advantage," President Yar'Adua told a gathering of investors in the Chinese capital.
The President called for increased Chinese investment in Nigeria's agricultural sector. "This is one area where we are redirecting completely and you can benefit from our new initiatives," he said.
President Yar'Adua said his administration would grant concessions to new investors. "The concessions will be on a sectoral basis, especially for pioneer businesses, but we will not grant waivers or concessions to any investor on a preferential basis."
He also told the gathering that his administration was currently reviewing all relevant legislation to facilitate and fast-track the process of investment in the country, and that the federal government will introduce more investor-friendly policies.
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Now facts are trickling out about the actual power expenditure during the last administration. The myth about the $16 published in almost all the newspapers in the country is now turning out to be nothing more than a propaganda campaign to discredit the former administration mainly because it came out very boldly to try to put an end to the endemic corruption problem that has been menacing the country since independence. One wonders if the newspapers and even the speaker of the house would find it honourable to apologize to the nation for trying to tarnish the image of… [Read Full Text]
The government should invest the capital in renewable energy sources. I have many technologies available to convert waste and grass to electricity and ethanol. We also developed a plant to convert CO2 gas to methanol. Interested parties cna contact me on snowball@mweb.co.za