Leadership (Abuja)
24 March 2008
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Senator Liyel Imoke, former minister of power and steel, now governor of Cross River State, recently appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel which instituted a public hearing to review contracts awarded in the power sector by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in which he was a minister. He was asked 75 questions by the committee. Has Senator Imoke answered the questions?
1. What were the principal objectives of the Short-Term Action Plan (STAP) articulated by the NEPA Technical Board that you chaired between May 2000 and December 2001 and approved by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo?
2. Were any of the targets set out in the short-term action plan met by the Technical Board?
3. Did NEPA/PHCN attain the target objective of providing 4,000MW of available generating capacity at any time during your tenure as Chairman, NEPA Technical Board?
4. How much Federal Government funding was appropriated for NEPA during your tenure as Chairman, NEPA Technical Board?
5. How much of the appropriated funds were released to NEPA by the end of your tenure as Chairman, NEPA Technical Board?
6. What was the internally generated revenue profile of NEPA over the period of your tenure as its Technical Board Chairman?
7. What was the internally generated revenue profile of NEPA/PHCN over the period of your tenure as Minister of Power & Steel?
8. In your view was Due Process followed in the award of the contract for the 276MW gas-fired Afam V power plant to Siemens at a cost of Euro 140 million in 2000?
9. Was there any competitive or selective tendering for the contract?
10. Who was the final approving authority for this contract?
11. In your view was Due Process followed in the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of Units ST2 & ST 6 at Egbin Thermal Power Plant to Marubeni in 2000?
12. Was there any competitive or selective tendering for the contract?
13. Who was the final approving authority for this contract?
14. Are you aware of the contract cost recommended by NEPA for the execution of the Owerri-Ahoada- Yenagoa 132KV Transmission Line & Associated Substations for award to Messrs. Energo Nigeria Ltd in 1999/2000? <=N=3.2 billion>
15. At what price was the contract awarded to PIVOT ENGINEERING before your tenure as NEPA Technical Board Chairman? <=N=6.3 billion>
16. At the inception of the NEPA Technical Board, what was the re-negotiated price at which the contract was awarded to PIVOT ENGINEERING? <=N=3.6 billion>
17. What was the aggregate amount paid to PIVOT ENGINEERING for the same project between 2000 and 2005? <=N= 11 billion?>
18. Who originated the requests for price escalations of the subject contract, and for what justifications?
19. Were you the final approving authority for these cost upward revisions to the same project?
20. Did you participate in the preparation and adoption of the National Electric Power Policy (NEPP) 2000?
21. What were the cardinal objectives of the NEPP 2000, especially regarding the respective roles of Government and the private sector in the future development of the power sector, especially generation plants?
22. What was the major philosophical outlook of the Electric Power Sector Bill/Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005, particularly regarding the envisaged role of Government in the development of new power generation plants?
23. Before your appointment as Special Adviser to the President on Utilities in 1999 and subsequently as Chairman, NEPA Technical Board in 2000, what was your cognate experience in matters relating to the Electric Power Sector?
24. How would you characterize the performance of the N EP A Technical Board in relation to its objectives as set out in the Short Term Action Plan?
25. Did NEPA, under your leadership, achieve stable power supply to the nation by December 31,2001?
26. Given your performance during your tenure as Chairman, NEPA Technical Board, do you think you elevation to Minister of Power & Steel was deserved?
27. When you were appointed Minister of Power & Steel in 2003, what plans and policies did you put in place for the attainment of the objectives of the NEPP 2000?
28. What was the genesis of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company NDPHC and the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP?
29. Do you believe the NDPHC/NIPP idea was subjected to rigorous conceptual analysis and evaluation before program implementation commenced?
30. What was the antecedent project that triggered the creation of the NDPHC/NIPP program?
31. Was the reference project a success in your opinion at the time the idea was borrowed?
32. If no, how could you have embarked on the NDPHC/NIPP, given the exponential scaling-up of program management capacity, logistics and material resources required for its realization?
33. Has the subject reference project been successfully completed to date, even to the limited scope of its initial conception by the Rivers State Government?
34. At its inception, did you believe that the requisite program management capacity was available to you for deployment on such a grand project as the NDPHC/NIPP?
35. Do you believe that the NDPHC/NIPP as designed and implemented was the best option available to the nation in confronting the challenge of power generation and delivery in the short to medium term?
36. Could the objective of attaining available generating capacity of 10,000MW by December 2007 have been met if Government had limited its remit to enabling or incubating transitional electric market framework-structures such as:
i. A strategic aggregator (or power pool, to provide market assurance to private sector investors in generation plants as well as provide market mechanism) ,
ii. A power pool fund (to support Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs),
iii. A power infrastructure fund (to catalyze equity investments in Independent Power Producer (IPP) plants,
iv. A cost-reflective pricing regime of gas and other fuels for power generation, and v. An economic electricity tariff regime, rather than embarking on an ill-conceived, bloated-cost and poorly-managed intervention program?
37. Do you believe that Nigeria is getting value for money from the NIPP?
38. Given the Due Process, Transparency and Anti-corruption position of the Federal Executive Council which you were a member of, do you believe that the scoping, pricing and management of the projects and contracts approved by you under the NDPHC/NIPP were optimal?
39 .If yes, can you explain, by way of illustration, the glaring contradiction enunciated by the following few, but representative examples:
i. NIPP Transmission EPC Lot 3: New Haven - Ikot Ekpene, 2 x 330KY Double-Circuit transmission line; route distance as awarded to ENERGO is 240 kilometers, actual distance is 168 kilometers, resulting in a scope inflation of almost 43%, which could putatively have inflated the cost of the project from =N= 13 billion to =N= 19.4 billion, a difference of over =N=6 billion!!
ii. IPP Transmission EPC Lot 4: Afam - Ikot Ekpene, 330KY Double Circuit transmission line: route distance as awarded to PAYMA BARGH + CA TLARK INTERNATIONAL is 150 kilometers, actual distance is 75 kilometers or less, resulting in a scope inflation of 100%, which could putatively have inflated the cost of the project by 100%, from =N=3.3 billion to =N=6.6 billion!!
iii. NIPP Generation Balance of Plant (Le., excluding Power Island turbine & accessories) EPC Lot 7: Omoku (250MW) Simple Cycle Gas Turbine power plant (NIPP contribution of approximately 100MW additional capacity to the Rivers State 150MW power plant project) awarded to ROCKSON ENGINEERING at the cost of =N=20.93 billion (equivalent to USD179 million), as against international average cost of USD600,000.00 per MW for complete turnkey simple-cycle Gas Turbine plants; Omoku NIPP BoP contract scope should cost no more thanUSD60 million! For apposite comparison, please compare with cost of AGIP /NNPC 450MW Okpai Turnkey Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine power plant, including fuel delivery infrastructure, which was executed, completed and put into service by others during your tenure as the overlord of the power sector!!
iv. The Long Term Service Agreement (LTSA) between General Electric (GE), the selected supplier of gas turbines for the power plants and NDPHC occasioned the front-end payment of over =N=2.7 billion to GE, out of a total of about =N= 16 billion. The LTSA is meant to cover services to be rendered by the equipment supplier after testing & commissioning or typically from the Commercial Operation Date (COD) of a power plant. Why was it necessary to make this payment before the turbines were delivered, let alone installed?
40. Mindful of the fact that you are under oath, did you at any time during the period these contracts were being processed, receive confidential information from sources outside NDPHC/NIPP alerting you to these glaring irregularities, amongst many others?
41. What did you do with this information?
42. Did you inform your boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo?
43. lf not, why?
44. What role, if any, did Mr. Carl Masters of Goodworks International play in the negotiations and award of the gas turbine supply contract and long-term service contract, respectively, to General Electric Co. of the US?
45. In your opinion, did you deploy the best possible technical and management personnel available in the to the NDPHC/NIPP?
46. Was any consideration given to the Federal Character Principle in the deployment of key technical and management personnel to the NDPHC/NIPP?
47. Was the principle of even/fair geographic spread applied in the siting of NIPP projects?
48. Did embarking on the NDPHC/NIPP not negate the policy direction and thrust of the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act 2005?
49. Was there a nexus between the lack of diligent prosecution of NEPP 2000 objectives, as well as the indifference of the Federal Executive Council under former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to the delay in passing the EPSR Bill 2002 (the precursor of the EPSR Act 2005), and the emergence of the NDPHC/NIPP program (contractocracy!) as the principal framework for addressing the medium-term Power Challenge? •
50. Do you know Mr. Isioma Ezi-Ashi?
51. What is his relationship to you and your wife?
52. Do you know the company Sermatech Ltd?
53. What is the relationship between Sermatech and Mr. Isioma Ezi-Ashi?
54. Are you aware of the details of contracts awarded to Sermatech Ltd by NEPA/PHCN and NDPHC/NIPP in the past seven years, such as Ughelli Power Station Unit GT-16 rehabilitation, NIPP Distribution EPC Lots D-EPC/BN4/7, DEPC/EK1 /9, and D-EPC/IK2/24, amongst others?
55. If yes, could you please provide this committee with the aggregate price or amount of the contracts awarded to your wife's brother's company during your tenure as Chairman, NEPA Technical Board and Minister of Power & Steel?
56. Do you know Mr. Emeka Okeke?
57. What is his relationship to you?
58. Do you know Mrs. Anyanna Imoke?
59. What is her relationship to you?
60. Do you know the company Renacs Engineering Co. Ltd.?
61. Who are the owners of the company?
62. Are you familiar with the details of the contracts awarded to the company by NEPA/PHCN and NDPHC/NIPP during the past seven years, such as NIPP Transmission EPC Lot 20 :- 132/33KV Substations at Ikom, Nkalagu and Abakaliki; NIPP Transmission EPC Lot 21 :- 132/33KV Substations at Nsukka and New Haven; NIPP Distribution EPC Lot D-EPC/ AB 1/1; and NIPP Distribution EPC Lot D- EPC/ AB3/3, amongst others?
63. If yes, could you please provide this committee with the aggregate price or amount of the contracts awarded to your brother's wife's company during your tenure as Chairman, NEPA Technical Board and Minister of Power & Steel?
64. What is your personal or family relationship, if any, with Mr. Sam Gekpe, Director General of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA)?
65. What is your personal or family relationship, if any, with Dr. Ransome Owan, Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)?
66. Does the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 allow for the position of an Executive Chairman of the Commission, rather than an Executive Vice Chairman?
67. Who recommended this contravention of the EPSR Act 2005 in regard to the appointment of Dr. Owan?
68. Who approved this contravention of the EPSR Act 2005 in regard to the appointment of Dr. Owan?
69. Do you own a home in Upper Marlboro County, Maryland, USA?
70. lf yes, when did you acquire this property?
71. What were the sources of funding for the acquisition of the property?
72. Do you operate bank accounts outside Nigeria?
73. lf yes, can you provide details of these accounts to this committee?
74. What was the aggregate amount committed by the Federal Government to the power sector between 1999 and 2007?
75. Do you think Nigeria got value for the amount of money spent under your stewardship of the power sector?
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