₦airaland Forum

abokibuhari:
Tell that deji17 nazo them flaunt ogonni clean up, till date has anything been done?

I hope you have the data to watch this video. It shows progress been made on the clean up. This is a Govt that keeps its promise. No gimmick. What you see is what you get.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3azn4fyCWTU&list=PLzGHKb8i9vTwf4VKQg3bU9iOBjuzqpdz_&index=1[s][/s]

CodeTemplar:
Stop being emotional like a sisi and start being more logical and analytical.

What was the outcome of numerous IPPs in time past? Why did they fail?

Stop being me and start being like you? Does that even makes sense? What gives you the impression that you are not more "sisi" than me?
Be you, let me be me...

No wonder they were ready to die on top of Buhari matter. Governance is about taking good care of the masses.

The elite should stop being selfish and think of the general good.

Eko oni baje o. Whoever plans to destroy Lagos, their vehicle will break down before Ore...For the enemies within, they will travel home but will not make it back.

Saraki's Senate and Dogara's house of reps are the worst in the history of this country..

OfficialRasheed:
When? Can you give me a date

The answer is in the article..

Work has begun on the long-awaited rail spur line, which may accept test trains as soon as August. The government also will need to decide who should own and operate the plant. Ajaokuta is currently controlled by the state after a previous private-sector operator, Global Steel Holdings Ltd., had its concession terminated.


“This is an alternative to oil,” Sumaila said. “The complex can be up and running two years after the government makes the strategic decision on the direction it wants to take.”

OfficialRasheed:
Ajaokuta is decades away from production.

Only a Yoruba muslim will belive this rubbish headline. Nothing in the article even suggests anything serious

Yoruba Muslim? How is this news related to that? When production starts as being envisaged, guys like you will be the first to apply for jobs there.

Nice!

Sai Buhari!
Sai Osinbajo!!

Ajaokuta Steel Factory Gears Up to Start Production. After 40 Years


Nigeria’s Ajaokuta complex was built with Soviet aid. Now the government says it’s finally serious about opening it.
By David Malingha Doya

May 23, 2018

The dilapidated Ajaokuta Steel complex. Photographer: David Malingha Doya/Bloomberg
On a hot April morning, workers are furiously cleaning a decorative fountain in front of the executive office of Nigeria’s largest steel complex. An onsite power plant is being repaired by electricians. Others around the 39-year-old facility are clearing brush. In the middle of it all, administrator Abdul-Akaba Sumaila is meeting in turn with the 20 or so people crowding his waiting room, a mix of union officials, local politicians and job applicants.

When one young man pulls a filled-out form from a wrinkled envelope, Sumaila asks him about his background, pats his back and encourages him to stay positive. Soon, he says, Ajaokuta Steel will start hiring. After that, it may actually make some steel.

The dilapidated factory complex has never managed to produce a single bar, coil or rod. Built with Soviet assistance, the sprawling facility has sucked up $8 billion in public investment and been hamstrung by repeated stops and starts, ownership changes, poor governance and sheer incompetence. It’s a tortured history that mirrors Nigeria’s broader attempts to develop a sustainable economic base beyond fossil fuels.


President Muhammadu Buhari has put a high priority on getting the plant into production, hopefully by selling it to private investors. But the legal, technical and political problems illustrate in microcosm—albeit a three-square-mile microcosm—many of the challenges that bedevil Nigeria’s diversification drive.

Sumaila, a mechanical engineer who’s taken a three-year leave of absence from Royal Dutch Shell Plc to try to revive Ajaokuta, is undeterred. “What excites me is the enormous potential of this place,” he said in his office at the plant. “Whatever we need to do, we have to do it.”

The economic imperatives are clear. Nigeria depends on crude for 90 percent of its export earnings. With global oil prices significantly below their past highs of more than $100 a barrel, shortages of foreign exchange are a daily reality. And Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, has little domestic capacity to refine gasoline and thus must pay to re-import its own oil. The consequent lack of foreign currency has driven up prices for everything from food to construction materials, further hobbling an economy that shrank by 1.6 percent in 2016.

Today much of the facility beyond the central administration block resembles the set for a post-apocalyptic action film

The need for diversification, and the employment it could provide, is made more urgent by a surging population. With about 200 million people and growing rapidly, Nigeria is by far the most populous country in Africa. Without durable sources of employment, a nation that’s spent much of the past decade fighting insurgencies in its arid north could descend further into disorder.

Yet the record of privatization in Nigeria is decidedly mixed. In the cement industry, it was largely a success: Investors succeeded in reviving production, making the country a net exporter of the material. One of the early buyers, Aliko Dangote, is now Africa’s richest man. By contrast, efforts to sell off power plants have failed to end blackouts, still a daily occurrence in much of Nigeria.

Steel has long been an obvious target. Nigeria has vast deposits of iron ore, much of it in Kogi State, the same region where Ajaokuta is located. Transformed into steel, the ore could make other domestic industries, such as construction, far more viable.

Those intentions underpinned the construction of Ajaokuta, which when it began in 1979 was envisioned at Pharaonic scale. At full capacity, it was intended to produce as much as 3 million metric tons of steel annually, enough to largely close the gap between Nigeria’s current steel consumption and domestic output. Yet the most critical piece of infrastructure, a rail line that would connect the plant to iron-ore mines and deliver the finished product, was never completed.

Today much of the facility beyond the central administration block resembles the set for a post-apocalyptic action film. The blast furnace, conveyor belts and giant cranes to move materials—many inscribed with the words “Made in USSR”—stand idle in scrubby fields. Pipes as wide as manhole covers are coated in creeping grass, and cattle graze in clearings meant to store coal for the furnace.


‘Made in USSR’ adorns a rusty crane at the Ajaokuta Steel complex.Photographer: David Malingha Doya/Bloomberg
Of the 10,000 houses envisioned for workers, the 4,000 that were completed are occupied mostly by retirees. The current workforce of about 1,500 civil servants is tasked primarily with keeping parts of the plant in serviceable condition. The combined 120 kilometers (75 miles) of internal roads and railroads, as well as the school, the library, and the hospital for workers and their families, are largely unused. The runway of an airstrip built to serve the area needs to be resurfaced.

Nigeria’s government says it’s serious about transforming Ajaokuta from an embarrassment into a viable asset. The plant’s biggest booster is Kayode Fayemi, the mines and steel development minister. While Fayemi concedes, with significant understatement, that the first 30-plus years of Ajaokuta “didn’t quite work out as planned, which is the Nigerian story sometimes,” he said fixing it is now a national priority.

“Ajaokuta is central to our diversification strategy,” he said in his office in Abuja. Building up domestic steelmaking, he said, is “the least we could do for ourselves as a country and for our manufacturing sector.”

“This is an alternative to oil”

Work has begun on the long-awaited rail spur line, which may accept test trains as soon as August. The government also will need to decide who should own and operate the plant. Ajaokuta is currently controlled by the state after a previous private-sector operator, Global Steel Holdings Ltd., had its concession terminated.


While the government has said it plans to solicit bids for Ajaokuta from new investors, a group of lawmakers, with some union support, is pushing to keep the plant under public ownership. They argue that only paltry offers are likely for a facility that still requires huge investment. Senate Majority Leader Ahmad Lawan proposed legislation to that effect in the upper house on May 8, against the government’s wishes.

Fayemi says he’s convinced that Nigeria can no longer afford not to process its own resources. “The idea that we must be taking our iron ore out, our gold out, every raw material, for others to add value, and then send back to us to pay probably 10 times what it’s worth when we send them out is unthinkable,” he said.

He won’t be around to see if that pans out. He said May 14 that he will leave at the end of the month to run for governor in his home state of Ekiti. And Sumaila, the Ajaokuta administrator, said he doesn’t know whether he will return to Shell or not when his term at Ajaokuta ends in October 2020.




Wearing moccasins, a black short-sleeved and collarless suit, with a pen in hand, Sumaila says he remains optimistic as he walks around his spacious office.

“This is an alternative to oil,” he said. “The complex can be up and running two years after the government makes the strategic decision on the direction it wants to take.”

— With assistance by Samuel Dodge

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/a-steel-factory-gears-up-to-start-production-after-40-years

Omeokachie:
At least they can mount the podium and ask people to vote for them because they have paid contractors...

You dis not answer the question. Would you rather that they dont pay contractors?

Omeokachie:
"We've paid contractors" is the new campaign material.

Would you rather have they've not paid contractors situation?

Firefire:
Who take professional liars and career rogues serious?

If Mohomodu Buhary can openly deny all his campaign promises, I beg this is another daylight propaganda from the gonment of propagandists.

Go through this.. You will see contractors themselves telling the difference between the two administration..

https://twitter.com/fmpwh?lang=en

Firefire:
Who take professional liars and career rogues serious?

If Mohomodu Buhary can openly deny all his campaign promises, I beg this is another daylight propaganda from the gonment of propagandists.

So until you hear directly from contractors that they have been paid?

Firefire:
Evidence please?


“Meanwhile, contractors have identified delay in funding as one of the major challenges in project execution”

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/05/16/fg-to-settle-inherited-contractors-debts-ex-nigeria-airways-workers/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spKLjAPsYfo

FG paid N2.7 trn owed contractors — Minister
Posted By: Agency Reporter On: May 24, 2018


The present administration has paid a total sum of N2.7 trillion owed various contractors, of which N47 billion went to road contractors, since coming into office in 2015.

The Minister of State II for Power, Works and Housing, Alhaji Suleiman Zarma, made this known during a stop-over to inspect the reconstruction and asphalt overlay of the 98.414 kms Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Ajibandele-Shagamu Dual Carriageway, Phase IV.

“These monies were paid not for jobs awarded by the present government but government did so believing that the contracts were awarded to benefit Nigerians.”

He said that the Buhari-led administration was resolute in paying contractors for jobs executed.



Zarma, however, warned that the Federal Government would not condone sub-standard work.

He explained that the Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Shagamu being handled by Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) was very strategic.

According to him, the road is part of the International Trans- African Highway connecting Lagos to the Port of Mombasa in Kenya through Enugu in Nigeria and Doula in Cameroon.

He also inspected the rehabilitation, reconstruction and expansion work on the 83.40 kms Lagos-Ibadan Dual Carriageway Section 1.

He commended the contractor, RCC, and urged them to redouble efforts to meet the July 3, 2018, completion deadline.

Read Also: Fed Govt scores Ilorin-Omuaran road job low
Zarma also inspected the construction of the 1.59km Rigid Pavement Access Road to NNPC Depot in Mosimi along Ikorodu-Shagamu Road.



He expressed displeasure that Borini Prono and Co Nig Ltd., the contractor, which had over 30 years experience in Nigeria and with outstanding jobs, could not deliver the road on schedule.

The minister said that issues delaying the completion of the job would be speedily reviewed to enable the contractor to fully mobilise to site and complete the project this year.

He assured contractors handling various federal projects in the South-West geopolitical zone that the Federal Government would pay for contracts executed.

He said that the relationship between the contractors and the Federal Government had evolved over the years and as such, they were not expected to stall work due to funding delay.

The contract was awarded in December 2014 with a completion date of January 2016.

The access road is very important to petrol tanker drivers as it will ease the evacuation of products from the NNPC Depot.

Meanwhile, contractors have identified delay in funding as one of the major challenges in project execution.

http://thenationonlineng.net/fg-pays-n2-7-trn-owed-contractors/

Revealed: Who got what in $16b Obasanjo power deals
Posted By: YUSUF ALLI

May 24, 2018


With the controversy stirred by allegations and counter-allegations over the alleged $16 billion investment in the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) still raging, another report has shown the identities of 27 companies that benefited in the cash, reports Managing Editor YUSUF ALLI.

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration spent about N1.2 trillion on the controversial National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) report has said.

But only N360.7billion had been paid to the contractors — as at 2007 when Obasanjo exited power.

The administration also spent N273.65billion on Power Holding Company of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007.



According to the report, which was compiled using the naira, 27 companies got the contracts for transmission lines.

Compiled by former EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde when he headed the agency in acting capacity, the report was said to have been handed over to a former Chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, when she resumed office.

According to the report, exclusively obtained by The Nation,the figures were arrived at after extensive investigations by the anti-graft commission.

President Muhammadu Buhari has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration of blowing $16b on power. Obasanjo replied that he was never indicted, adding: “The answer is simple: The power is in the seven National Integrated Power Projects and eighteen gas turbines that Chief Obasanjo’s successor who originally made the allegation of $16 billion did not clear from the ports for over a year and the civil works done on the sites.” The report said: “Further investigations also revealed that a National Integrated Power Project is currently apace in six zones of the country for which about N1, 230,949,066,528.99 was committed by the Federal Government.

“The projects were also at different levels of completion but as at the moment of this report, N360, 714, 147, 700.03 has been paid out to contractors, leaving a balance of N870, 234, 918, 828.06 yet to be paid, pending the completion of the project.

“After an in-depth investigation and rigorous check on all documents relating to these contracts, the payments made so far, and the contractors handling the project, it is impossible to draw a nexus between the former President or any individual or companies associated with him and the proceed accruing from the contract payments.”



On the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the report claimed that about N273.65billion was released to the agency between 1999 and 2007 for its day-to-day activities.

Also, the PHCN separately received N22.297billion and 162,467.57billion; US$445.244.630.07million; Euro 20, 105,436.31million; and £8,987,322million for about 27 contracts on electricity generation and transmission.

The report adds: “On the issue of NEPA (now the Power Holding Company of Nigeria), investigation has revealed that between 1999 and 2007, over N273.65billion has been received by the institution and not N521billion as alleged. This appropriation is for its day-to-day activities, including generation of electricity, its transmission and distribution to the people of Nigeria.

“Investigations have also revealed that various contracts in relation to generation of electricity transmission were awarded which amounted to N22.297.162, 467.57billion; US$445.244.630.07million; Euro 20, 105,436.31million; and £8,987,322 million. All the documents relating to payments have been checked and scrutinised and there was no reference whatsoever to the former President, his relations or any front who benefited from the contracts.”



The report listed some of the 27 contracts as follows:

Pivot Engineering Ltd was awarded contracts in the sum of $78,625,736.54 for the construction of Owerri-Ahoada-Yenagoa 132 KVA DC lines and substations. It is to be noted that out of this, $73,023,521.36 has been paid to the contractor.
ABB {Nig] Ltd [SAE] received a contract in the sum of $21,489,644.79million and Nl, 489,271,079.60billion for the construction of second Benin-Onitsha 330 kva SC lines. So far, the contractors have been paid the sum of Nl, 675,225,734:40billion
Siemens Ltd also benefited from a contract of Euro l5, 032,410.65million (Euros) and N200, 000,000million to provide Onitsha 150 Mva, 330/132/33 kva, T/F and 330 KV base at Onitsha and Benin. Out of this contract sum, it has received a total payment of El2, 499,567.00million( Euros)and N49, 979,258.00million
Energovod Src was awarded a project of Alaogi-Calabar 330 kva DC lines in the sum of $42,382,351.30million and N900, 000,000 for which payments to the tune of $23,851,466.58million and N431, 056,721.00million have been made.
AREYVA T/D SPR-and -MBH power-for offshore works for construction of bays got £8,987,322.00million and N600, 000,000million. The foreign payments have been fully made while only N161, 704,254.50million on the Naka was paid.
Chrome Consortium was awarded contracts for the provision of Gombe-Yola-Jakngo 330kva SC lines at $74,872,154.04million. It has been paid $50,000,000.
News Engineering Ltd got a contract valued at $3,485,113.50million and N250, 000,000million for the construction of Jalingo 2×30/40 mva; 132/33kv sub-station. It received $2,670,679.36million and N100, 850,347.04million.
Allaogi-Umuahia 132 kva DC line was awarded to Pivot Engineering at $4,067,940.00million; it got $3,978,676.10million and N406, 528,365million.
Valenz Holdings [Nig] Ltd got the contract for Umuahia 2×30/40 mva, 132/33kv substation at $7,083,399.48 million and N489, 704,091.00million.It was not clear if the company had been paid.
Kec/News Engineering handled Gombe-Damatru-Maiduguri 330kv lines at $30, 172, 772million and N2.5 billion
JKN Limited did Ado -Ekiti 132/33kva sub-station and Akure 132kva Liangbe extension at N822 million. It received N521million.
Kano- Dutse 132 kva DC and Dutse-Azare 132 kv SC line were done by LCEP at $50, 294, 388million.
ABB did Dutse- Azare 2×30/40MVA, 132/33KV Sub -stations cost $12,500,000:00million and €1,771,582:83million. The company received $11,074,967:81million and €354,316:40million /*.
The Egbin-Ikeja West/Benin Main 330kv DC line and sub-station was handled by Energo (Nig) Limited at $8,437,687 million and N141, 967,775:92million; it was paid $6,475,037:18 and Nl7, 488,890:06million .
NEPA-ACEB Power Interconnection Project (Counterpart Funding) was handled by SAE Power Lines and Areva (SIS) (Counterpart Funding on ADB Loan on senders) at Nl,194,500,000:00; Nl,043,800,000:00 was paid.
News Engineering Nig Limited got the contract for the construction of lx30MVA, 132/33W substation at Keffi at N441,534,004:50; N251,700,000:00 was paid to the contractor.
Continental Engineering Nig Limited was awarded Talata Mafara 2×30/40MVA, 132/33kv substation ( N453, 532, 829:20) . The company was paid N420, 323,334:57.
Amukpe (Sapele) lx30/40MVA, 132/33kv sub station was handled by News Engineering Limited at $1,194,482:34 and N219,920,252:71. The company received $1,014,276:14 and N78,303,339:54.
ABB Power Katempe got National Stadium 132kv DC line for N347,000,000:00; it was paid N 173,500,000:00.
Twenty-six companies carried out FY2000 substation reinforcement projects (N2,679,487,010:00) They received N2.3billion, representing 90% of the contract sum.
ABB Nigeria Limited handled rehabilitation of Delta TV Switchyard (€2,879,811:11 and N109,899,233:00); N36,822,340 was paid.
Nnewi 2x60MVA 132kv sub- station was awarded to Valenz Holdings Nigeria Ltd (€4,421,811:72 and N251, 833,400:00). It received N191, 734,122:52 .
CMC was awarded New 33kv substation at Omotosho ($30,325,386:00); $3,115,453:00 was paid.
Steers Int’l Ltd was awarded $1,395,353:83 and Nl 52,092,929:50 for the construction of New 330kv line at Ornotosho/Benin/ Ikeja West in which a down payment of $596,137:71 and N34,465,000:00 have been made to the contractor.
SEPCO got the $30,325,366:00 New 330kv substation at Papalanto. It was paid $8,915,453:00.
Kukwaba 2x60MYA, 132/33kv sub- station was awarded to NCEP at $5,252,932:61 and N272,237,433.25; 20% payment was made, which comes up to $1,050,586:52 and N54,447,486:65.
CCC Int’l Ltd is a company was awarded Onitsha-Nniwe-Ihiala 132kv DC line at $2, 631,003:58 and N 198,049,270:00.


A report of the Presidential Review Panel on the NIPP set up by the National Economic Council (NEC) said as at 2007, “total project allocations/estimates for NIPP” amounted to $10.231 billion, including the $2 billion Federal Government counterpart funding for Mambilla Hydro Power project and $1.4 billion for additional nine turbines.

According to the then Governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, who made the presentation of the panel’s report, “ out of these commitments, only $3.08 billion was funded and scrutinised with advance payment guarantees from “first class” Nigerian banks and Letters of Credits issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Over $1.5 billion of the sum is still in the custody of the banks.”

But the report said: “The committee agreed that completing the project as initiated is the right way to go.”

The NIPP contracts were actually executed from the crude oil sale windfall, which was kept in the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

But the Revenue Mobilsation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) declared the deductions/withdrawals from ECA as illegal because the cash belonged to the 36 states and the 774 Local Government Areas.

It also obtained an injunction restraining the Federal Government from withdrawing from the account.

Most of the states also filed matters in court to challenge the withdrawals from ECA by the Federal Government.

http://thenationonlineng.net/revealed-who-got-what-in-16b-obasanjo-power-deals/

maasoap:
How can a "crooked thief" steer the nation forward? Abi your brain dey paining you?

Kikiki. He hit his head on the concrete floor when he was a child.lol

Hammed Ali is right..

Tripleoluwa:
This comment sweet my belle well well.

What does OBJ thinking when he said the report of the electricity is in his book. Are we supposed to read it in a book or see light in our houses?

OBJ takes everybody for a fool.

Buhari o ooo..
Why nau?

Igbo Amaka! Hail Biafla!!

We should find a way to blame Buhari for this nau?

magzey:
THE QUESTION IS WHERE IS THE LIGHT . EH? Dr Prof. Babalawo Olushegu Obasanjo

Just open to page 41, Volume 3 of My Watch by Obasanjo, you will get the light. I tried it this morning and it worked. Hahahahaha

chrischukszy01:
Abeg someone should help sumerise it in two paragraphs.
Oluwa just pick my call for this my USA visa wey I dey hustle.I can't be in the same continent with this buharia ooo

Summarize for you? Na so you lazy reach?

mytime24:
Too long

BBN, Davido, Shiorma might be your thing then.. I'm sure there are headlines like that.

For now only Anthony Joshua, who incidentally is a boxer.

deomelo:
ipobs will post the dumbest and stupidest nonsense for silly likes and shares from their fellow ignorant and unintelligent ipobs..

Hahaha My brother you don see them finish.

CilicMarin:
They so much believe in the efficacy of their Likes and Shares, that always feel threatened if any sensible comment from any pro Nigeria handles gathered more LIKES than theirs.

Very deluded souls.

That is what we see from them. Very immature and infantile behaviour.

Meanwhile,
Where is the power?

OBJ is showing us the electricity power in our home inside his book.

Power project: Page 38
Lagos-Ibadan Express way: Page 40
Ibadan- Ilorin Express way: Page 49

Postanalyser:
imagine a certified "osu" rushing to call another osu? smh......among all the states in the country, it's only in the west that you will see a village that is call "osu" shameless goats. you listed the few igbos u know, if i start listing the cowards of your tribesmen that are forever enslaved by the foolanis,then i have to name even the unborn. meanwhile, go and reclaim Kwara and Kogi states.

You are an Osu. A confirmed one at that. That is why you still practise the barbaric act in 2018. You have a slavish mentality and your people have confirmed it many times over. Osu look for your mates to banter with.Go to your usual joints where people with no brain gather to call their parents home a zoo.

LochOtieno:
is like u daft

again....i repeat

not only are yorubas wailing and kicking as they are being enslaved by hausa fulani....
they are seen wailing and kicking as they seek to be enslaved anew by hausa fulani......
argue with ur ancestor Sango the gay lord.

You are really stupid, and I repeat..

Osu, look for a slave like yourself to banter with. You are a confirmed slave. The Hasua Fulani that your fore fathers like Ojukwu, Achebe, Ekwueme, Azikiwe and others were enslaved by..

LochOtieno:
u don't need to link me to any source...I hv many to attach to u...but what is the need when it has been established that

not only are yorubas wailing and kicking as they are being enslaved by hausa fulani....

they are seen wailing and kicking as they seek to be enslaved anew by hausa fulani......

argue with ur ancestor Sango the gay lord.

Osu, look for a slave like yourself to banter with. You are a confirmed slave. The Hasua Fulani that your fore fathers like Ojukwu, Achebe, Ekwueme, Azikiwe were enslaved by..

$16b NIPP funds: The fact-sheet
Posted By: Yusuf Alli On: May 23, 2018

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Why was a whopping $15 billion invested in the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP)? This is a question that has lingered for more than a decade. Managing Editor Yusuf Alli writes on while the multi-billion power sector investment did not yield the desired result.

LIKE a recurring decimal, the debate on what happened to the $16 billion power project vote yesterday returned to the front burner of public discourse.

President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigerians deserve to know why there was no corresponding power supply in the homes and business premises after the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for disbursed whopping $16 billion cash on power projects.

He threw the jibe when the Nigerian Customs Service Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ali Presidential (rtd) led members of the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) to the State House in Abuja yesterday.



The power project budget has been a subject of controversy since expiration of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure on May 29, 2007.

In 2008, the House of Representatives described the $16 billion spent on power projects between 1999 and 2007 as “a colossal waste.”

Also in 2016, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) called for a probe into the disbursements.

The group specifically asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) “to appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations of corruption in the spending of $16 billion on electricity by the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007”.

SERAP said its request was brought “pursuant to Section 52 of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, and the letter and spirit of the Act, and the object and purpose of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”

Speaking at the Sixth Annual Trust Dialogue, organised by Media Trust Limited, former House of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole, shed more light on the issue.



He told the audience: “As for the power probe, $16 billion was truly appropriated but $13.5 billion was released. For your information, we are going to consider that report. We will take a whole week and we will do our recommendations live on television.

“We are not interested in the personality involved, we are dealing with institutions. Our recommendations will be on how to strengthen those institutions such that we will never have a repeat of this kind of thing again.”

The ad-Hoc Committee on Power Probe in the Green Chamber gave insights into why the nation was in darkness despite the huge cash withdrawal from the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

The 2009 Report of the then Ndudi Elumelu panel was submitted to Bankole.

It said that $13.278 billion was spent on power projects between 1999 and 2007.

The committee recommended the termination of 13 contracts and the review of 10 others.

According to the report, about 15 contracting and consulting companies were to be investigated by the appropriate agencies.

These highlights were contained in the report of the committee on Power Generation Transmission and Distribution between June 1999 and May 2007.

The Elumelu Committee was put in place by the House on January 31, 2008.

The report, which was exclusively obtained by The Nation, also indicated that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation OAGF could not account for the whereabouts of $1 billion.

The committee sought investigation of 18 people involved in power projects between 1999 and 2007 by anti-graft agencies Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Among those recommended for probe in the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) report was Chief Obasanjo, under whose watch the cash was withdrawn and spent

Others are: former governors Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and the late Olusegun Agagu (Ondo), who were Power Ministers; former Minister of State for Energy Abdulhamid Ahmed; a former Managing Director of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Joseph Makoju; the ex-Chief Executive Officer of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) G.O.P Osakue; TCN Transmission Head C.E. Ifesie; Acting General Manager (Lines) Mike Ezeudenna; Technical Committee Chairman/General Project Manager C. N.O. Nwachukwu; Technical Committee Deputy Chairman I. Onuoha and Niger Delta Power Holding Company NDPHC/NIPP Managing Director J. A. Olotu, among others

The report said in part: “From the oral and documentary evidence, it was clearly established that the total expenditure in the power sector during the period 1999-2007 was $13, 278,937,409.94 billion.

“Indeed, had the supplementary budget of the power sector in 2007 been implemented, the expenditure could then have been over $16 billion reported by the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“There are also unfunded commitments to the tune of $7.265 billion for NIPP projects as at May 29, 2007.

“There is another $1 billion for PHCN capital projects awarded between 2000 and 2007, which have been captured in the 2008 Appropriation Act.

“Additionally, the total commitment of the NNPC and its Joint Venture partners (of which the Federal Government, through the NNPC has an average of 51 per cent interest) towards the Independent Power Plants (IPP), gas sources development, gas transmission and metering of JV IPPs, PHCN power plants and NIPP power plants, according to the submission of the acting GMD of the NNPC is $7 billion, out of which about $1.62 billion has been expensed, leaving outstanding commitments of over $5.5 billion out of which the Federal Government will provide about $3 billion.

“Recognition of these unfunded commitments would bring the total (funded and unfunded) FGN expenditure commitments in the power sector to over $24.5 billion between 1999 and 2007.

“From the assessment done during the committee’s tour of the project sites, it is safe to conclude that no meaningful progress was made in the execution of power contracts.

“It is curious and quite strange that officials rush to pay contractors in full even before engineering design for the projects have been completed and approved.

“NIPP contracts were not only overpriced in comparison with PHCN contracts, they are also wide off the mark when viewed against comparable power stations in several parts of the world.

“A comparable review of the cost of power installations in varied regions of the world such as South Korea, Saudi Arabia, U.S.A, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico and Chile showed that $10billion could have built plants to produce between 5,000 to 6,000 MW of electricity. But this amount failed to do so in Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, all NIPP payments were made without following due process. In its place, a process called ‘Waiver of Due Process Certification for Payment’ was adopted in flagrant disregard of Due Process Policy, thus paving the way for dubious and highly risky payments to contractors and consultants by the Federal Government.

“The committee found hard and widespread evidence of systematic over scoping of projects in order to inflate costs both in PHCN and NIPP.

“At least 15 transmission lines and substation projects have been identified. For example, the New Haven-Ikot-Ekpene 2x330kv Double Circuit Line was over-scoped by 49 per cent whilst the Afam-Ikot Ekpene 330kv line was over-scoped by more than 100 per cent.

“The estimated aggregate cost inflation identified so far for transmission projects is over N20 billion and this is recoverable from contractors.

“A clear example of project cost inflation is the proposed supply of 9No GE frame 9 gas turbines and auxiliaries at the cost of N185billion ($1.55 billion) awarded to Rockson International.

“In comparison, it is noteworthy that GE supplied 18No turbines of similar specification previously at about $404 million, including cost of Technical Assistance (TA) services and Long-Term Service agreements (LTSA). The implicit cost inflation on the 9No additional turbines and associated services exceeds $1.145 billion.

“Another example is the costing of the so-called change-order provisions for Alaoji Power Plant (Phase I) at a highly-questionable amount of $123 million.

“NIPP Distribution EPC contracts were awarded at costs averaging about 10 times the norm when compared to PHCN contracts costs for similar projects in the past five years. This 1,000 per cent cost inflation of the NIPP Distribution EPC work scopes translates to an aggregate overpricing of over N50 billion.”

On the funding of NIPP projects, the panel said: “The contracts were not funded from any Appropriation Act. What this means is that the National Assembly had no knowledge of the source of the funds of the NIPP projects.

“All the government functionaries who testified referred to what they termed Excess Crude Account as the source of funding.

On the role of the CBN, the panel’s report adds: “The committee is perturbed by the failure of the CBN governor to provide information in respect of Letters of Credit opened and where the money involving over $1 billion has been kept all these years

“It is necessary to note that the CBN refused to provide the committee with schedule of utilisation and draw-downs on Letters of Credit as well as interest accrued on unutilised balances.

“The committee strongly believes that these monies might be on fixed deposit accounts with some banks.

“In view of the apparent unwillingness of the CBN to cooperate with the committee in this matter, or provide the committee with a proper account of withdrawals from Excess Crude Account, the balance on the account, where the monies in respect of the unutilised Letters of Credit are kept and interest that have accrued thereto, we recommend that the EFCC be invited to investigate the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria in respect of the above issues relating to Letters of Credit opened.”

Besides recommending the termination of 13 contracts and the review of 10 projects, the panel recommended 15 contracting and consulting companies for investigation by appropriate agencies.

The projects for review are: Owerri-Ahoada-Yenagoa Trx Line; Alaoji-Calabar 330kv Dc Trx Line; Maiduguri 330/132kv S/S; Alaoji-Umuahia 132kv DC Trx Line; Gombe Damaturu-Maiduguri 330kv Trx Line; Calabar 330/132/33kv S/S; Arochukwu 132/33kv S/S; Ado-Ekiti 132/33Kv S/S; Umuahia 132/33kv S/S and Damturu 330/132/33kv S/S.

Those for cancellation are 2nd Benin-Onitsha 330Kv Trx Line; Gombe-Yola-Jalingo 330kv Trx Line; Katampe-National Stadium 132kv DC Trx Line; Umuahia- Mbalano 132 kv Trx Line; Mbalano-Okigwe 132kv Trx Line; Yola 330/132/33kv S/S; Umuahia-Ohafia 132 Trx Line; Ohafia-Arochukwu 132 kv Trx Line; Mbalano 132/33kv S/S; Okigwe 132/33kv S/S; Ohafia 132/33kv S/S; Akure-Ado-Ekiti 132kv SC Trx Line; and Onitsha 330/132/33kv S/S.

The report added: “Having reviewed the figures provided by the Ministry of Energy (Power), the NDPHC, the PHCN, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation , the CBN, the Revenue Mobilisation, Fiscal and Allocation Commission (RMFAC), the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Federal Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office of the Federation, the Committee came to the following findings of fact:

“From all available evidence, the strategic plan for transforming the electric power sector envisaged in the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 has not been faithfully prosecuted or diligently implemented.

“The investigation revealed widespread and flagrant abuse of legal process, resulting in avoidable waste, continued power failure and inestimable human suffering on the part of Nigerian masses.”

The report further highlighted specific lapses by the indicted institutions in charge of power reform.

Concerning the Ministry of Energy (Power), the committee said the Ministry, which ought to work with the NCP to “expeditiously complete the process of unbundling the defunct National Electric Power Authority as spelt out by the Act, did not live up to expectations.

“In this regard, the ministry failed in its duty to ensure that parastatals under its jurisdiction existed and carried out their functions in accordance with laws of the land.

“The committee strongly believes that no official or institution of government has a right to override the law or operate as if the law did not exist.

“There is no need for parliament to make laws at all as if the laws are to be flagrantly ignored and abused by institutions and officers of government. Without rules, the country has not even started on the road to progress.

“It was found that either by acts of omission or commission, the Federal Ministry of Energy (Power) turned a blind eye to the illegality of PHCN continuing to oversee the power sector long after the expiry of the period allowed for its existence under the law.”

On the NCP, the committee said from the evidence adduced by relevant sector operators during the hearings, “it is apparent that the NCP since 2006 abdicated its responsibilities in respect of the management of the reforms in the power sector.

“Section 3, sub-section 1 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 authorised the NCP to fix an initial transfer date of the assets and liabilities of PHCN to the successor companies contemplated by and prescribed by the Act.

“The NCP via an official Gazette fixed the transfer date to be July 1, 2005. The same Act authorised and mandated NCP in Section 10(1) to not later than one year from the initial transfer date to transfer the assets and liabilities of PHCN to the unbundled successor companies.

“The NCP directed PHCN to transfer its assets, employees, liabilities, rights and obligations to the 18 companies arising out of the unbundling exercise commencing March 1, 2006 and also adopted June 30, 2006 as the transfer date. Flowing from the above, the PHCN ceased to exist as of that date and should have been wound up immediately thereafter.”

Regarding PHCN, the committee said by virtue of ESPRA Act 2005, it is an illegal body.

The report said: “In spite of the above provisions of the law, the PHCN continued to operate, in direct contravention of the ESPRA Act 2005 as well as the gazetted orders at the NCP.

“From the testimony of the CEOs of the unbundled companies, which was corroborated by the coordinator of PHCN liaison unit, it is clear that the transfers contemplated and mandated by the Act were only carried out cosmetically.

“The continued existence of PHCN as an amorphous or inchoate agglomeration of dysfunctional and powerless successor companies or a resurgent NEPA is a clear violation of the law and is not imbued with any potential to grapple with the grave power challenges facing the nation.”

“The PHCN is stinking of large scale corruption,” the committee wrote in its report.

It went on: “The public hearing and site visits exposed high-level corruption and unspeakable inefficiency and waste in the execution of project and disbursement of funds meant for power projects.

“From all available facts, a prima facie evidence of corruption and inappropriate disbursement of funds amounting to corrupt practices and economic sabotage have been established.

“In spite of the cosmetic unbundling, nothing was done to check the culture of impunity that had eaten deep down into the administrative structure of NEPA/PHCN over the decades.”

Another aspect of the report bordered on the funding of the controversial NIPP.

The committee said the funding strategy was abandoned for withdrawals from Excess Crude Account by the Obasanjo administration.

It added: “Contrary to the funding strategy for the MSPSND/NDHC/ NIPP projects articulated by the Steering Committee and the Presidential Implementation Committee of NIPP and approved by President Obasanjo in June 2005, funding for these projects became solely dependent on withdrawals from the Excess Crude Account.

“From the testimony of the former Finance Minister Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, funding of the NIPP from the Excess Crude Account was conceived as a loan to be repaid to the accounts of the Federal, State and Local Governments at a later date.”



Confusion



But the EFCC, in a report by its former Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, cleared ex-President Obasanjo of any involvement in the NIPP fraud.

The report of the anti-graft agency said in part: “After an in-depth investigation and rigorous check on all documents relating to these contracts, the payments made so far, and the contractors handling the project, it is impossible to draw a nexus between the former President or any individual or companies associated with him and the proceed accruing from the contract payments.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/16b-nipp-funds-the-fact-sheet/

COCKCROW:
THE REAL SLAVES ARE THOSE WHO SEE NO EVIL, CONDEMN THE EVIL, PRETEND THERE IS EVIL AND DIE WITHOUT COMPLAINING.

That is what you say to console yourselves. Nothing like real or fake slaves. A slave is a slave and you have self identified many times. Don't project yourselves on me. You are a slave and answer when they call you. Osu.


"Nigerians are maltreating us - like slaves."- Njoku

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40506251