ABUJA – The Senate, on Thursday, moved to begin probing into the award and handling of the $5.792bn Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project (MHEPP) contract from 1999 to date.
The Upper Chamber mandated its Committees on Appropriations, Power and Finance, to look into it.
This was as the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Babangida Nguroje, has commended the Senate for rising in defense of the abandoned Mambilla hydroelectric power project, to ensure its completion to the benefit of all.
The apex legislative Chamber, however, expressed concerns over the inability of the project to be implemented since its conception.
The Upper Chamber took the decision following a motion sponsored by Senator Harun Manu, who drew attention of the Senate to the benefits Nigeria stands to get in terms of complimenting the national grid, job creation, industrialization and tourism potentials for the region and Nigeria in general.
Leading debate on the motion, Manu noted that the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Power signed a contract with a consortium of Chinese contractors, comprising CGCC and CGOC in 2017, to construct a 3050 megawatts hydroelectric power project, known as the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State at the sum of $5.792bn.
He informed the Senate that ,”The Federal Executive Council of the Buhari administration approved the said contact with an agreed JV funding stricture of 85%from the Chinese consortium (CGCC-45%,SHC-35% and CGOC-20%) and 15%from the federal Government of Nigeria as counterpart funding for the entire project with a 72 months construction period and on a site area over 146 sq km in Kurmi, and Sardauna local Government of Taraba state.”
While commenting on the motion, immediate past Governor of Sokoto state, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, called on President Bola Tinubu, to see to the revival of the Mambilla hydroelectric power project as a legacy project of his administration, by activating the necessary measures to see to the actualization of the project.
Former President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawn, and Senator Sani Musa supported this position, informing the Senate that a company known as Sunrise, which dragged the Federal Government to court had already withdrawn the matter paving the way for the Constitution of the construction without legal hurdles.
Reacting to the motion, the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Babangida Nguroje, commended the Senate for standing in defense of the Mambilla hydroelectric power project with the view to ensuring that the project was executed.
Nguroje also expressed enthusiasm at the timely presentation of the motion and the fact that Sunrise company had written to withdraw its legal case that created a legal impediment to the project, stressing that no country can make meaningful development without effective and efficient power supply.
He maintained that beyond the project standing as a legacy of the Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the Mambilla hydro project has capacity to trigger local content beyond Kurmi and Sardauna Local Governments of Taraba state, saying that it would serve and improve the power crisis in the country.
He expressed joy that the project would create over 55,000 jobs, construction of resettlement homes for over 100,000 people, hauling and supplying of over 2.7 million tons of steel, production and supply of over 76 million tons of quarry stone and provide opportunity for cement manufacturing companies as well as auto-manufacturers in Nigeria.
We commend the ingenuity of the 10th Senate as well as the North East Governors for bringing back the conversation at this time, with the favourable disposition of the current administration of President Bola Ahmad Tinubu,” he said.
He maintained that adding about 3050 megawhats into the subsisting 2000 megawatts would go a long way to improving the power sector and creating more jobs.