By Raphael Ekpang
The Nigerian Senate has refuse to be quite over the non execution of yearly budgetary provision for the Mambilla Hydropower Project, Core Reporters report.
In his remarks , the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Gabriel Suswam (PDP Benue North East) said it was unfortunate that there was nothing to show for the huge sums spent on the project, said to be over 30 years on the drawing board.
According to him , since 2017, monies had been provided for Mambilla but nothing has been done despite the pressure from the National Assembly and Nigerians.
He, however, said the panel has summoned the power ministry’s permanent secretary and other relevant officials to appear before it next week to explain how the yearly budgetary provisions for Mambilla were spent.
“The Mambilla power project has become a mirage to us at the National Assembly and to Nigerians. Monies are provided year in, and year out but nothing is certain about Mambilla.
“The initial scope of the project was slightly about 3,000 megawatts. There were issues and we were told that it was going to be re-scoped. Even the re-scoping of the project has not been done.
“So in essence, there is no project that is on the ground like Mambilla. It’s all about talks and lips service. That is why we are concerned about the money that is provided for consultancy and the money used for the training of staff that was supposed to be utilized if Mambilla was in place. Why provide monies all these years when nothing is on the ground,” Senator Suswam queried.
The Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station is a 3,050 MW power project still under development.
When completed, it is expected to be the largest power-generating installation in the country, and one of the largest hydroelectric power stations in Africa.
The federal government voted N2bn for the Mambilla project in the 2020 budget. The project got N425 million in 2021; N650 million in 2022 and N1.1bn is the proposed budget for the 2023.
However, the Minister of Power , Engr Abubakar Aliyu revealed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has commenced investigation into the Mambilla Hydropower Project. This, he said was as a result of the yearly budgetary allocation to the project, but yet no execution has been carried out with it.
The Minister made the revelation during the 2023 budget defence session with the Senate Committee on Power which described the project as a mirrage.
Aside EFCC’s investigation , the Minister told the committee that his ministry has met with stakeholders and all issues of concern are currently being resolved, including litigations.
According to him, “Regarding Mambilla, we have met with stakeholders and we are resolving the situation. It has something to do with litigation, nothing is going on regarding moving to the site.
“EFCC has stepped into the matter and we have given them information about it. We have given them the history of the power project, our lawyers have interfaced with the anti-graft agency, unless we can pull out of litigation, we can’t do anything,” he said.
