Minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, says the Federal Government is making huge project on the Mambila Power project, despite what he described as spurious and unfounded allegation of Leno Adesanya with regard to the ongoing Mambila Power project.
Fashola in reacting to allegation by Leno Adesanya on purported stalling of the Mambila Power Project clarified, “Nothing is more further away from the truth than the claim that the loan negotiations have stalled since 2017 because of an attempt to utilise $600 million (equivalent of N219bn) from the 3,050MW hydropower project for a “pet project” not hitherto considered by the Federal Executive Council.”
In a clarification statement issued on Sunday, the minister’s special adviser on communications, Hakeem Bello, quoted the minister as saying, “There is currently no budgetary provision or cash provision of $600 million or the N219 Billion in any budget of the Federal Government for the Mambila Project.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the China Exim Bank disburse money to specific projects and on conclusion of negotiations, the loan will be devoted to the construction of the Mambila Power Project, which has been on the drawing board for close to 40 years before the advent of the Buhari administration which is now working assiduously to get the project off the ground.”
The minister, who invited Adesanya to prove his allegation in the court of competent jurisdiction, said in the statement that the Federal Executive Council, which is the highest decision making organ of the Executive Arm of Government, never awarded a contract for the project to Mr. Adesanya.
The minister in the statement said he first presented a memo on the Mambila Power Project to the Federal Executive Council in August 2017, which was the first ever Federal Executive Council approval given to the Mambila project in favour of a Chinese Joint venture.
He had further accompanied the President twice to China on trips that had the project as one of the headline agenda.
In June 2018, Fashola attended, alongside officials of the Ministry of Finance, a meeting of the China Exim Bank to negotiate the terms of the loan for the project further.
Accordingly, last week after the Federal Executive Council meeting, he briefed Nigerians about the approval of contracts for surveyors to demarcate the areas for the project.
These are the first contracts to start preparatory work on the project after 40 years delay. These actions are not consistent with delay falsely being alleged against the minister by Adesanya, the statement said.
