The Boss newspapers has exclusively revealed that the reason the Mambilla HydroPower Project, has not taken off for years, laid idle and gathered dust, is because of high wire power play, selfishness and in some cases bare-faced corruption. Read the detailed expose below:

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The Boss can now reveal exclusively that the reason the Mambilla HydroPower Project, has not taken off for years, laid idle and gathered dust, is because of high wire power play, selfishness and in some cases bare-faced corruption.

Our investigation has shown that government after government, Minister after Minister even President after President, all efforts to bring the project, which was conceived in 1972 to improve electricity supply in Nigeria, back to life and meet its set objectives of power generation and job creation, has always been frustrated by a myriad of forces.

Therefore, when in November 2017, the Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, announced that President Buhari has approved  $5.792 billion (About N1.1trillion) for the construction of the 3,050 megawatts Mambilla Hydro-Power Project at Gembu in Taraba, many heaved a sigh of relief. At last, they believed, Nigeria would finally break the jinx of perennial power failure.

According to Fashola: “Several efforts had been made to bring it to reality but I’m happy to announce that this government approved the contract today to joint ventures of Chinese Civil and Engineering company for the engineering and turn-key contract, including civil and electro-mechanical works for $5.792 billion.

He noted that the scope of works of the project will include construction of four dams and 700kilometres of transmission, adding that it will unleash the nation’s potentials in agriculture, tourism and energy.

Six months after that cheerful statement, it seems however, that it is not yet uhuru. The Federal Government is yet to pay its 15% counterpart funds to the Chinese Exim Bank, and nothing has so far happened.

Knowing full well the importance of this project to the Nigerian people and the overall economy, we were agitated by this state of inertia and that was when we began digging, and our investigation has now revealed that Mr. Fashola did not present the full story.

We gathered that one of the main reasons for the latest delay of the project is actually a long-standing dispute that may have been overlooked when the President and Members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave approval on August 30, 2017.

We also discovered an interesting twist where the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) gave sound legal advice which was ignored by the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari before the contract was awarded.

Furthermore, we discovered that after earlier aligning with the Attorney-General, curiously, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, backtracked, and switched to the advice of the COS, a move that would definitely do more harm than good to this project.

It is a riveting story of power play at the very highest level, the kind of intrigues that many thought would never occur in the Buhari Presidency.

BACKGROUND 

To clearly understand this knotty matter, we have to take you through the whole gamut of hard facts spanning 18 years.

Documents in the possession of The Boss indicate that a Nigerian company, Sunrise Power Transmission Co. Limited had been in the forefront of promoting this Project from the outset.

Prior to the official tender process, Sunrise started promoting the Mambilla Project as early as year 2000. It reportedly engaged the offices of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as well as the Nigerian Embassy in China.

Its successful promotion of the project led to the first state visit of then President Obasanjo to China in 2001 and Vice President Atiku in 2002.

It was thereafter, that a bidding process was opened for the project and the Ad-Hoc Inter-Ministerial Committee recommended Sunrise and its Chinese Partners. On April 7, 2003, the Committee wrote the President for approval to officially issue an award letter.

Therefore, on May 22, 2003, the then Federal Ministry of Power and Steel (Now Part of the new Ministry of Power, Works and Housing) issued a letter of Award to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited in consortium with North China Power Group as Technical Partners. The contract was for the construction of a 3, 960MW Hydroelectric Power Project in Mambilla on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement for a provisional six billion dollars. Sunrise accepted the offer.

In August 20, 2003, Sinohydro, which has its principal place of business at no.1 Ertao Biaguang Road, Xuanwu District, Beijing, PR China, North China Power Engineering Co. Ltd with its business address as 24a Huangsi District, Beijing and Sunrise located at Oluwa (Fowler) Road, Ikoyi, Lagos Nigeria, signed a contract to work together on what was then the 3, 960MW project.  Sunrise engaged Sinohydro to construct the project on an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis.

After it has begun work, it got a shocking letter on September 3, 2003 from the Ministry of Energy (FMOE) claiming that the Federal Executive Council did not approve the memo recommending Sunrise for the project and directing Sunrise to tender for the project when it is advertised.

Sunrise sought a resolution without success. Sunrise and North China engaged Chief Afe Babalola, (SAN) to demand compensation.

A letter written by Chief Babalola dated February 4, 2005, read in part: “Your ministry cannot seek to repudiate the contract as it has attempted to do in the Ministry’s letter ….not after our clients have incurred expenses on the preparation incidental to the execution of the project.

“Consequent upon the preliminary steps towards execution of the contract, our clients have incurred well over Three Million Pounds while there are commitments to several consultants local and international in excess of Thirty Million British Pounds.”


Read full account at http://www.signalng.com/mambilla-hydropower-project-fg-may-lose-2-billion-in-complicated-contract-scandal/

OK

Hey Mr Blogger If you can't publish everything here forget it. I go ask gugu (Google) instead.

I done tired pass tire. Fashola no go kill person.

ogmask:
Hey Mr Blogger If you can't publish everything here forget it. I go ask gugu (Google) instead.

For this reply name any olosho of your choice and I will pay.

op wan take us play!

op finish the story here or...

I wonder what sorcery Barth Nnaji was doing back then.

Fake news..... the project is ongoing.

Okoroawusa:

For this reply name any olosho of your choice and I will pay.

op wan take us play!

op finish the story here or...

Correct guy. Wait make I check wether dem don book the 3k hotel wey dey my area finish. This kind offer nor dey kwik come oooooo. I dey come ...
.

ogmask:


Correct guy. Wait make I check wether dem don book the 3k hotel wey dey my area finish. This kind offer nor dey kwik come oooooo. I dey come ...
.

sharp guy!

Nonsense report full of conjectures without facts.