HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE ON POWER COMMENCES SITTING
March 12, 2008 by 
Che Oyimnatumba
In apparent bid to get to the root of the lingering power outage in Nigeria despite the whooping sum of $13.27 billion invested into the power sector between 1999-2007, the House of Representative commenced open hearing on the power sector yesterday.
At the opening of sitting slated to last one week, glaring that a German company Laymeyer, collected N369 Million Naira without proceeding to site at Mambilla Hydroelectric power project.
The Minister of State for Energy (power) Hajiya Fatima Balaraba Ibrahim while testifying, unveiled that the National Assembly had approved in 1999 N6.697 billion, N49.7bn in 2000, N70.92 in 2001, N41.692b in 2002, N50.270bn in 2003, N54.21bn in 2004, N70.131bn in 2005, N72.393 in 2006 and in 2007, N61.161bn.
These were in addition to loans of $6.464bn, euro 330.037m, $3.07m, $464m and N235.5bn from the World Bank. According to the minister,”I know that Manbila has nothing on ground. Nothing has been done there”
During the tenure of President Obasanjo, when these monies where given for the project, no contract was awarded without going through due process, headed by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili. This activity became ritualistic that Dr. Ezekwesili became known as madam due process. For the National Assembly to get to the tap root of this proplem, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili must be subpoenaed to the sitting, her job at the world bank not withstanding, after all, world bank’s loan is involved.
Meanwhile the power situation in Nigeria has twinkled from low voltage to total eclipse spanning over four days at a stretch.
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Information they say is what citizens of a country can use to hold their leaders accountable. The danger however is the effect of false information which commentators can then use for inaccurate analysis. I have read the piece and have found within it the hollowness of our media. I would have expected the Honorable Minister of Energy to be more precise or for the media to hold her accountable for the information she has been quoted to made public. For avoidance of doubt their is a difference between date of effectiveness of a loan (draw down date) and those of disbursements. A salient point which the Minister conveniently forgot to metion was how much indeed was the amount of the world Bank loans was disbursed.
On the budgetary numbers, the writer again exhibits lack of knowledge of the issues that he chose to comment on. What would be interesting to know would have been during which period these sums were approved. This would enable an understanding of who the Minsters of Power and Head of Due Process were. Therefore asking for a suopena to be issued to Oby Ezekwsesili obviously lacks common sense. Meantime, we have two seating governors who ran the power and steel Ministry and should be held accountable who nobody meantions their names.
All that has been written clearly suggests (1) a lack of understabding of how development financing works - (an indication of lack of understanding by the writer and the Minister - as well as (2) the decadence that is currently rife in the media - where deep analysis and inquisitiveness has been replaced by the brown envelope.s replaced professionalism. What stops the media from actually seeking for clarification from the Minister.. put her on the spot to explain the numbers she is reeling out…. the reason - either our journalists have been paid of, or they lack the intelligence and understanding of the issues.
So whoever the writer is, I would advise that before you pick your pen and start maligning individuals, that you first get your facts right and then use these facts to hold the right individuals accountable. And maybe it is time for you to undergo some trainign on the processes involved inn development finance.
I am not an expert in economics, neither am I a learned fellow. But one thing I don’t think anybody can dispute is the fact that a lot of fund has gone out of the national treasury in the name of repairing the energy sector, but alas, the fact that I am using a generator to power my system as I write this comment is enough evidence that the result was not achieved.
So, I can rightly ask, what happened to the funds disbursed from the treasury?
@ Naijacash I am too depressed now to make any serious contribution until later.
If you are in Nigeria or have access to AIT, please do tune in now to watch the sitting live.
The revelations will make a criminal shudder. I do not know if we can rely on the Reps to get to the root of the matter.