President Jonathan budgets billions for Bayelsa project long completed, and fully paid for in 2006.
President Goodluck Jonathan is asking the National Assembly to appropriate about N1.8 billion this year to help connect his home state of Bayelsa, to the national electricity grid, but this request suggests that federal officials only want to pocket the money.
PREMIUM TIMES investigations into the proposed project reveal that President Jonathan is asking money for projects that have been completed seven years ago, and that were all fully paid for in 2006 when he was the governor of the state.
In the 2014 Federal budget recently presented by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to the National Assembly for consideration and approval, the government lists as priority, the need to connect the state to the national electricity transmission network, but this shocking blunder is drawing attention to the absence of project monitoring and evaluation principles in policy making under the current administration, and the shabbiness that attends to budget preparation.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Power, Beks Dagogo-Jack, could not explain how the provision found its way into the budget, but claimed the issue might involve some complicated technical explanations only the bureaucrats at the Federal Ministry of Power could make.
PREMIUM TIMES investigations reveal that such provisions, that many federal crime investigators are familiar with, are some of the several fraudulent financial requests smuggled into budgets to steal public funds.
The Special Adviser to Bayelsa State governor on Power, Olice Kemenanabo, on Tuesday, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Bayelsa State was indeed linked to the national grid more than eight years ago.
The Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogwu, demanded a text message enquiry when contacted Thursday. He did not respond to the enquiry as at the time of publishing this report on Saturday.
However, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, insisted Friday night the N1.8billion request is not fraudulent.
is true contract connecting Yenagoa to the national grid was awarded in 2006,” Mr. Okupe said in response to a PREMIUM TIMES enquiry. “It is a 2x40MVA station connecting only Yenagoa. That voltage is far too small to cater for the needs of the state.
“The present contract is to further upgrade what is on ground and extend services to other parts of the state. It will be wrong and ignorant to say the 2014 provision is fake!”
But officials at the Federal Ministry of Power, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES but requested anonymity for fear of official reprisal, insisted that there is no official documentation for the project, and that it is merely a “graft allocation.”
The officials said they were “stunned and amused at the claim from the presidency which is obviously an afterthought.”
“It is not true that the Bayelsa transmission line needs an upgrade. If it’s an upgrade, why didn’t they say so in the budget? Why was it presented as a totally new project?” the official queried.
The project, titled, “Connection of Bayelsa to national grid”, under the allocation of the Federal Ministry of Energy (power), was described as a new project with reference number MOP1001637.
The budget did not say the requested N1.8billion was needed for an upgrade of an existing facility.
Power ministry officials point to the existence of a 132kv transmission line from Owerri, in Imo State, linking Ahoada, in Rivers State, and Yenagoa, in Bayelsa State, which was constructed by Pivot Engineering Nigeria Limited, insisting that the current fresh provision in the budget amounted to “linking the state to the national grid for the second time, evidence that the money goes into someone’s pocket.”
Documents from the Bayelsa State Investment Promotion Council and the power ministry offer the historical background to power development in the state, dating it back to 1988 prior to the creation of the State in October 1, 2006.
Then, the area relied on only one transmission line, which was not upgraded by successive administrations.
This spurred the Federal Ministry of Power and Steel, in conjunction with the then National Electric Power Authority, NEPA, to award a $56 million, [N3.2billion] contract to Energo Nigeria Limited in 1999 for the construction of a single phase Owerri-Ahoada-Yenagoa 132 kv transmission line to link Owerri to Yenagoa.
However, in November 2000, the scope of the job was reviewed to accommodate the Yenogoa-Imiringi and Ahoada-Abonnema 33KV double circuit lines, with the associated substations at Ahoada and Yenagoa.


Source: http://premiumtimesng.com/news/152620-investigation-jonathan-fresh-n1-8billion-fake-project-scandal.html

I am loving this. Seems our mouths shall not lack pop-corn this year

;DFresh Air Things...

2015...waiting

Rubbish this is how they decieve gullible nigerians what's 1.8b for the president of nigeria? They should have said commissioner seeks 1.8b idiots

Thesame premium times cramjones sent his so called letter exposing PDP strategy for winning 2015 election to? by now you'all should know what they stand for and that is propaganda.
Stale news

1.8billion naira not even dollars... APC, you guys should focus first on presenting a presidential candidate that is credible... Till then... FRESH AIR TILL 2023

strangest: 1.8billion naira not even dollars... APC, you guys should focus first on presenting a presidential candidate that is credible... Till then... FRESH AIR TILL 2023

so in your asinine opinion,1.8billion naira is "too small" to get stolen by the president of nigeria.so you assume if jonathan or his cronies want to launder money,there will be a subhead in the budget named "jonathan's loot" and that same subhead will capture all the monies in one swoop.your reasoning doesn't tell you the strategy is to place ghost projects in the budget,allocate funds to them and launder them all in preparation for 2015.even the president has to be smart when stealing because he is aware that all eyes are on him.I won't be amzed if such projects are scattered all over the various ministries

Very sillly and brainless PROPAGANDA. So is it just 1 Transmission Line that a whole State needs? How can you have a 2*400MVA Transmission substation for a whole State and believe that that State wud have anything close to 'stable' power? Are there not NEW Transmission projects ongoing in virtually EVERY State in Nigeria presently by either NIPP or TCN, in order to 'upgrade' the terribly inadequate Transmission facilities? Should it be surprising then that same thing is now ongoing for the State with d Worst transmission/Distribution facilities in Nigeria- Bayelsa?? I mean, any person who have ever lived/stayed in Bayelsa know that it is Only Yenagoa and environs that was recently connected to d National Grid. What of d other parts of d State, esp d more Riverine ones??

jking001: Rubbish this is how they decieve gullible nigerians what's 1.8b for the president of nigeria? They should have said commissioner seeks 1.8b idiots

what is this one saying?

The are not ghost projects, they are towards 2015 election funding. The masses are waiting to surprise all the looters.

The important investigation that should be carried is to find out how much was RELEASED for these projects in those years and physically visit the project sites to see evidence of WORK DONE or absence of it.

Journalists cannot sit in air-conditioned offices and carry out "investigations" based on figures or sums of money written on PAPER and phone calls to "sources" or "officials".

In the absence of proper investigation, the whole write up is thrash meant for political propaganda.

Sincere 9gerian: The important investigation that should be carried is to find out how much was RELEASED for these projects in those years and physically visit the project sites to see evidence of WORK DONE or absence of it.

Journalists cannot sit in air-conditioned offices and carry out "investigations" based on figures or sums of money written on PAPER and phone calls to "sources" or "officials".

In the absence of proper investigation, the whole write up is thrash meant for political propaganda.

shut up

GEJ Go Rott For Kirikiri Aswear!!

taharqa: Very sillly and brainless PROPAGANDA. So is it just 1 Transmission Line that a whole State needs? How can you have a 2*400MVA Transmission substation for a whole State and believe that that State wud have anything close to 'stable' power? Are there not NEW Transmission projects ongoing in virtually EVERY State in Nigeria presently by either NIPP or TCN, in order to 'upgrade' the terribly inadequate Transmission facilities? Should it be surprising then that same thing is now ongoing for the State with d Worst transmission/Distribution facilities in Nigeria- Bayelsa?? I mean, any person who have ever lived/stayed in Bayelsa know that it is Only Yenagoa and environs that was recently connected to d National Grid. What of d other parts of d State, esp d more Riverine ones??

God bless u, look @ how they stressed the place so dey can sell d idea of GEJ focusing on his region, what I don't understand with dis type of information is dat d Official dey get dese facts from are ghost n always refuse to give dere names or offices which dey hold in other to make d story sound real. Please could we read dis budget cos the propaganda on it is becoming ridiculous n petty.