POLITICS
FG Making Progress in Negotiations Over Mambilla Power Law Suit, Minister tells Reps
By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja
Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, yesterday, told the House of Representatives Committee on Power, that the the federal government, was making huge progress in the negotiations to resolve the Mambilla Power project litigation, in order to boost electricity supplies in the country.
The Minister, who was at the Committee to defend the 2022 Budget of his ministry, lamented that there were numerous issues with the transmission and distribution of electricity, working against government’s efforts to ensure adequate electricity supplies in the country.
Aliyu who expressed regret that the Mambilka power project had.become a recurring issue during every budget defence, said the project, which contract was signed since 2017, should have been completed and put to use if not for the legal encumbrances.
Stressing that the case was under arbitration in Paris, the Minister said someone took the country to court that he was the first contractor of the project.
“It is something that we are all aware of. It is there, it is being told in the press that we have a case on Mambila. Someone has taken us to court to claim that he was the initial contractor for mambillla and the Chinese, who are suppsoed to bring money for the construction withheld their money because of that arbitraiton and it is not in Nigeria.
“It has been taken to Paris. Which we have been working seriously even befofe now. And now we have reactivated discusisons and we are wrokign on that to see how we can pull down that encumberance.
“Actually I would not want to continue to talk on that since it is something that is beign negotaiated at a certain level. Once you say much about it , it may affect what is going on since we have not reached any agreemnrt on anything yet. But we are workign day and night to see how we can reosolve that issue.
“The contract has been signed since 2017, but the financial contract between Nigeria and the Chinese was not signed. So nothing about money exchanging on Mambilla. As far as the loan is concerned, but we are trying hard to see how we can resolve the legal issues, whcih the Attorney Genral is heading that team. This is as far as i can say on the issue of Mambilla.
He said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, was very worried about the issues with Mambilla power project, .
Speaking on the challenge of poor power supplies, he said the equipment at transmission were obselete and weak, posing huge problems.
He added that with the continuous expansion and growth, with new towns and communities springing up, distribution was becoming cumbersome.
The minister said government was making efforts to upgrade transmission lines with 7000 Mega Watts (MW) in the first phase, 11, 000MW in second phase and 25000MW in the third phase respectively.
Speaking on why the challenges in the sector was enormous, Aliyu said, “the sector is mostly privatized. Some of the responsibilities are outsourced. Our partners at the generation level, distribution level and the government is handling the transmission.
“This is the whole value chain of power generation, transmission and distribution, and for it to work effectively, all of them must be up and doign. As it is now, we have serious challenges here and there, along this value chain.
“Apart from the three majot players, we have interface, because the generators need fuel either from natural source, which is the hydro which contributes about 20 percent of the generation, then gas needs also gas to fuel their plants.
“So this is another challenge. And you know gas in the international market, how it is. Another interface is between also the generation and transmission. Then transmission to distribution. So these are all packaged together to make the Nigerian Electricity Supply Inductry (NESI).
“This is also another challenge that we are dealing with. Now you come to the distribution, you also have teh same problem. So this two, the distribution and the transmission are what we have been trying so hard to upgrade to ensure that we raise their operational capacity to a level whereby they will able to to evacuate wjhat we have in the generation. There are various interventions going on.”
He said the second phase which is the transmission lines from the Kashambilla area to other places is on going, assuring that once the commissioning takes place in December, the ground breaking of the second phase would take place.
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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