Senate has heard that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was carrying out a probe into the $6 billion Mambilla Power Project that has become a subject of legal tussle. Speaking in Abuja when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power to defend 2023 budget, Minister of Power, Engr Abubakar Aliyu said that the Ministry has met with stakeholders and all issues of concern is currently beeing resolved adding that the issue of litigation on the Mambilla power project is hampering the project. The Minister who spoke when Senator Gabriel Suswan raised concerns over the situation of Mambilla Power Project, said, “Regarding Mambilla, we have met with stakeholders and we are resolving the situation. It has something to do with litigation, there is nothing going on as regarding moving to site.
“EFCC has stepped into the matter and we have given them information about it, we have given them history of Power Project, our lawyers have interfaced with the anti-graft agency, unless we are able to pull out of litigation, we can’t do anything. I don’t think the investor will bring their money where there is encumbrance.” Speaking on the project, the Senate Committee on Power said that the Mambilla hydropower project has become a mirage despite the yearly budgetary provisions running into billions. According to Suswan, the project is a mirage as far as the National Assembly was concerned against the backdrop that money has been budgeted year in year out and there was nothing on ground. Senator Suswam who disclosed that since 2017, monies had been provided for Mambilla but nothing has been done despite the pressure from the National Assembly and Nigerians, said, “The Mambilla power project has become a mirage to us at the National Assembly and to Nigerians. Monies are provided year in, and year out but nothing is certain about Mambilla.
“The initial scope of the project was slightly about 3,000 megawatts. There were issues and we were told that it was going to be rescoped. Even the re-scoping of the project has not been done. So in essence, there is no project that is on the ground like Mambilla. It’s all about talks and lips service. That is why we are concerned about the money that is provided for consultancy and the money used for the training of staff that was supposed to be utilised if Mambilla was in place. Why provide monies all these years when nothing is on the ground.” According to him, the Committee has summoned the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Power and other relevant officials to appear before it next week to explain how the yearly budgetary provisions for Mambilla were spent. It will be recalled that the Federal Government awarded a $6 billion Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Co. Limited and its Chinese consortium partners on May 22, 2003. Sunrise consortium had secured $5.5 billion in Chinese Eximbank loans in 2005, while the Nigerian government, on May 28, 2007, signed a $1.46 billion civil works contract with the Chinese firm, Messrs China Gezhouba Group Corporation/China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGGC/ CGC), in clear violation of Sunrise’s BOT contract. In November 2007, Sunrise filed a petition to then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the $1.46 billion EPC contract was terminated in 2009.
Nigerian government signed a General Project Execution Agreement (GOEA) with Sunrise and its Chinese consortium partners for the execution of the Mambilla hydropower project. However, on November 12, 2017, government signed a $5.8 billion EPC contract with another Chinese Consortium, despite numerous written warnings from the current Attorney-General of the Federation to the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in 2016 and 2017 to respect the GPEA contract with Sunrise. Sunrise resorted to arbitration against the Nigerian State and Sinohydro consortium of China in 2018, claiming $2.3 billion in damages. With the intervention of the Chinese president, who sent a special envoy to President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2019, Federal Government and Sunrise signed a settlement agreement in January 2020 and this settlement was advised to both the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria and Chairman of China Eximbank, who had made the settlement condition precedent to any loans for the Project.
However, the Federal Government defaulted. Sunrise, in September 2021, withdrew the $500 million settlement arbitration on the condition that the Federal Government makes a financial commitment towards the project and respects its right as the exclusive local content partner, but the Federal Government failed again to make any payments to the EPC contractors and/or the counterpart funds to China Eximbank. While the Federal Government has been unable to defend its failure to honour its agreements to Sunrise, however, the government requested that the ICC should direct “that Sunrise produce certain information showing its true legal and beneficial ownership.” The request, according to the government, was based on the allegation that there exist Pandora papers suggesting that Mr Leno Adesanya secretly transferred an interest in Sunrise to the family of Nigeria’s former National Security Adviser, Mr Sambo Dasuki. This claim was objected to by the claimant (Sunrise). In a decision dated October 13, 2022, the ICC said there were no “sufficient sensitive elements” adduced by the Federal Government of Nigeria to prevent the matter from proceeding.
