Reps to probe Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan power contracts

The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the contracts awarded and payments made to contractors by the Federal Government towards reviving the power sector.

According to a motion unanimously adopted by the House at the plenary on Thursday, the probe will cover the $16bn spent by the President Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration between 1999 and 2007.

It will also cover the administrations of Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari.

A member, Mr Sada Soli, moved the motion, entitled, ‘Need to review government expenditure on the power sector to ensure sustenance of the power reform programme in Nigeria.’

The lawmakers resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to “carry out a comprehensive investigative hearing on how much money was spent on the power sector reform programme over the years without commensurate results and report back within six weeks for further legislative action.”

Soli, while moving the motion, said, “The House notes that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act was aimed at removing the ineffectiveness of the sector in order to transform it into a more efficiently-managed sector. The power sector reform was expected to open opportunities for the development of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, increase access to electricity in processing farm produce, create job opportunities for Nigeria’s teeming graduates and enhance socio-economic development of the country.

“The House recalls that an investigative hearing was conducted by the House of Representatives in 2008 over the alleged spending of about $16bn on the power sector. The set power generation target was that by year 2020, the nation would have achieved 40,000 MW based on the alleged investments in the proposed power plants, but till date, such generation target has eluded nation.

“The House acknowledges the lamentation by the President (Muhammadu Buhari) to the effect that such huge sums of billions of dollars could be spent without commensurate results in the generation, transmission and distribution of power supply in the country.”

The House also on Thursday called on security agencies to criminalise open-grazing in Delta State.

Adopting a motion at the plenary, the House decried the killings, banditry and destruction of farms by suspected herdsmen in the Ethiope area of the state.

The motion, moved by Mr Ben Igbakpa, was titled, ‘Incessant killings, banditry and destruction of crops at Ethiope East/Ethiope West Federal Constituency by herdsmen.’

The lawmakers unanimously resolved to urge the security agencies – the Army, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to “as a matter of urgency midwife a meeting of stakeholders in Ethiope Federal Constituency and leaders of the herdsmen to douse the tension and find a lasting solution to this recurring security milieu.”

They urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Information and the National Orientation Agency to enlighten herdsmen on the need to “endeavour to limit grazing, where allowed, to bushes and uncultivated lands and not cultivated blooming crops.”

mrakeli62:
The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the contracts awarded and payments made to contractors by the federal government towards reviving the power sector.

According to a motion unanimously adopted by the House at the plenary on Thursday, the probe will cover the $16 billion spent by the Obasanjo-led administration between 1999 and 2007.


https://akelicious.net/nigerian-lawmakers-to-probe-obasanjo-jonathan-power-contracts/

oz4real83:
Nice one if truely and thoroughly done. They should avoid being compromised. These past and current presidents killed and keeps killing Nigeria but pretend they did their best or still doing his best (in the case of pmb). Nigeria won't have been in this mess if these people really did what they claimed to have done.

Xisnin:

Nobody spent $16 billion dollar on power that is pure propaganda.
These shameless reps are about to waste millions investigating a baseless case.
Remember that they did one around 2008 with no head or tail because the government
did not release $16 billion to any company or individual.

oz4real83:
if the same $16billion allegation came up in a house of rep committee and govt led by PDP during Late president Yar'dua's govt and is still coming up now, the members must be privy to information ordinary Nigerians don't know of.

Xisnin:

They are not privy to any information.
You see there is nothing hidden about government spending because there is always a paper trail.
The reps are either mischievous or ignorant as the first question they should answer is if the government really spent
$16 billion dollars. all they need do is summon the ministeries to provide documents for the $16 billion dollars but they are not interested in that.

There are a lot of real problems facing the country which the overpaid reps ought to focus on but
they will rather justify their pay with a bogus case.

raphy:
Even some one that is dead they want to probe him.
Let them just go his grave side and ask him.question instead if this shit

Will Tht stop all the bad things in the country useless people.

oz4real83:
Nice one if truely and thoroughly done. They should avoid being compromised. These past and current presidents killed and keeps killing Nigeria but pretend they did their best or still doing his best (in the case of pmb). Nigeria won't have been in this mess if these people really did what they claimed to have done.

Macteejay2:
After five days of hide and seek, N[b]dudi Elumelu, Committee Chairman on Power and Steel in the House of Representatives, his deputy, Mohammed Jibo and Committee Chairman on Rural Development, Paulinus Igwe reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday in connection with N6bn worth of contracts awarded by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). [/b]

EFCC asked the lawmakers to appear before its investigators last Wednesday but they failed to honour its invitation. They will remain in the custody of the commission until they are arraigned in court tomorrow.

A top official in EFCC told Daily Trust that the anti-graft agency has wrapped up its investigations and tomorrow all the suspects fingered in the scam will be prosecuted. Initially, the anti-corruption agency planned to obtain a court warrant to declare the officials wanted if they fail to come and make official statements.

Opinion

I thought he was a clean man, but let me not be quick to judge him. Let us keep our fingers/legs crossed and see how this "drama" unfolds

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200905123205721

http://www.nigeriaintel.com/2012/06/30/elumelu-power-probe-where-is-the-report/

IN 2007, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, announced to Nigerians that $16 billion have been invested into the power sector between April 1999 and June 2007 with no result, with the state of the country’s electricity supply getting worse.

Then in January 2008, House passed a resolution mandating its Power and Steel Committee, headed by Godwin Ndudi Elumelu, to probe the power sector over the alleged $16 billion investment.

The committee swiftly swung into action and opened investigation into the mess with a public hearing in March.

That was followed with a marathon tour of project sites across the country to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the stupendous claims made by the contractors handling the Independent Power Projects (IPP).

That second phase was duly completed in May and the report promptly compiled by the committee and handed over to the leadership of the House.

It was at this point that suspense and high drama crept into the hitherto laudable initiative that had been hailed by majority of Nigerians, as allegation of N100 million bribe was levelled against the Elumelu Committee.

Consequently, The Ethics Committee of the House was ordered to investigate the allegation.

As a result, the House frittered away public enthusiasm over the probe by dissolving the committee and all its standing committees, including the Ethics and Privileges Committee to which the N100 million bribery allegations against Elumelu’s committee was referred.

Many Nigerians believed the last may have been heard of the probe, as the report had been consigned to the archives, where past probes reports had ended.
But due to public criticisms, the Ethics Committee was hurriedly reconstituted and after the investigation, Elumelu and his Committee members were cleared of any wrongdoing.

The Committee said in its report: “From the totality of the testimonies before the committee and from all the surrounding circumstances, the committee arrived at the following: that the allegation of N100 million bribery is unfounded and untrue.”

At last, the Elumelu committee submitted its report, which made some far-reaching recommendations that were uncomfortable to some powerful people in society.

Though it was never debated on the floor of the House or made public, but investigation revealed that the Committee recommended the interrogation of some former and serving public officials by the country’s anti-graft agencies for their roles in the power project contracts.

Among them are former President Olusegun Obasanjo; the then governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu; Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke; then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Charles Soludo; then Accountant General of the Federation and now Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo, among others.

The committee, in the report, was convinced that the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the matter would compel the indicted officials and institutions to account for their roles in the award and execution of the multi-billion naira contracts.

The Committee allegedly indicted the former boss of Power Holding Company of Nigeria ([PHCN) and Special Adviser to Obasanjo, Mr. Joseph Makoju and recommended a mass purge in PHCN to enhance its performance, as well as a review of all the power projects in the country.

Agagu and Imoke, both former ministers of Ministry of Power and Steel, according to the committee’s findings, awarded contracts to non-existing firms, and must be made to account for their actions.

The panel rejected their explanations on the role they played in the scandal as “unsatisfactory”.

It said that the indicted persons, if found guilty in the trial it recommended, should be barred from holding any public office in future.

In the case of Obasanjo and former Minister of State for Energy, Alhaji Abdulhamid Ahmed, the committee was unsparing in its condemnation of the contentious practice of approving waivers for some contractors and, in a damning indictment, observed that in view of their alleged roles in the entire projects, Obasanjo and Ahmed should be cited for economic sabotage.

The opportunity came when the report and its recommendation came up for consideration during House plenary session.

Curiously, but shockingly, virulent verbal attacks were launched against Elumelu. Nigerians were amazed at the effusive manner majority of members cursed the
recommendations, making many to wonder whether these were the same people that spoke so “patriotically” in praise of the report when it was submitted.

The clearly desperate attempt by a majority of members to cover up some of the principal characters indicted in the report might never be implemented.

When the debate got so emotional, the leadership stopped the House sitting in plenary from throwing away all the 88-recommndations.

It later emerged from an executive session that afternoon with a novel idea: It formed a seven-man committee, to be headed by Aminu Tambuwal, who is Deputy Chief Whip and now Speaker of the House.

That was how the report was cosigned into the dustbin, like the previous ones.

Elumelu was later arrested by the EFCC and charged to court for allegedly mismanaging N5.2 billion rural electrification contract funds, an allegation he was recently cleared of by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Justice Garba Umar, however, declined to free former Senate Committee Chairman on Power and his then deputy, Nicholas Yahaya Ugbane and Jibo Mohammed, as well as six top officials of REA, who were equally fingered in the fraud, insisting they have a case to answer.

Whereas the lawmakers were accused of awarding the contract to fictitious companies, the civil servants were on the other hand, accused of using their various positions to facilitate the illicit withdrawal of funds provided for the project under the 2008 amended budget of the REA, with the proceed allegedly shared among them.

That was how nothing was heard about the report.

Elumelu won re-election to the House and now chairs the Committee on Health.

oz4real83:
Nice one if truely and thoroughly done. They should avoid being compromised. These past and current presidents killed and keeps killing Nigeria but pretend they did their best or still doing his best (in the case of pmb). Nigeria won't have been in this mess if these people really did what they claimed to have done.

anonimi:


Have you heard the name Elumelu before and all the drama and paparazzi noise about the same investigation in the House of Reps