… Declares Only About $3 Billion Spent
Seventeen years after leaving office as Nigeria’s Minister of power and steel, Sen. Liyel Imoke, has revealed that only about $3 billion was actually spent during his four years tenure spanning from July 2003 – January 2007.
Sen. Imoke faulted the much alleged $16 billion said to have been “wasted” in power sector during his tenure, saying that such claim was “without sufficient verification by media outlets and critics.”
Imoke, who is also former governor of Cross River state, spoke in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital while presenting a keynote address on Thursday at the 8th Annual Conference of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) with the theme “Nigeria: Tackling Insecurity, Power Deficit, and Transitioning to Digital Economy.” The conference was hosted by the Kogi state government.
In his paper, “Nigeria’s Path Forward: Tackling Insecurity, Electric Power Deficit, and Transitioning to Digital Economy”, the former governor (29 May 2007 – May 2015), explained that $3 billion was targeted at launch of National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), upgrades of power infrastructure and other reforms.
He, however, revealed that most of the power sector reforms were stalled due to the phantom $16 billion power probe and other challenges.
OPTIMUM TIMES reports that the then House of representative Committee on Power led by Hon. Ndudi Elumelu had within the period under review constituted probe panel of the power sector which outcome later ended in controversy over bribery scandal against the committee.
According to Sen. Imoke, “While these reforms laid the foundation for eventual privatization and restructuring, the actual execution of some of these reforms faced challenges, one of which was the undue and unnecessary delays in the implementation of the NIPP and other projects as a result of a phantom $16 billion power probe.
“The claim that $16 billion was spent on the power sector has been repeated without sufficient verification by media outlets and critics, often creating the impression that the money was “wasted” during my tenure.
“However, subsequent investigations have revealed that much of the criticism was based on incomplete or inaccurate information regarding how the funds were managed. It is on record that actual spending during my tenure is estimated to be around $2–$3 billion, much of which was targeted toward the launch of the NIPP and other infrastructure upgrades.
“The $16 billion figure has been
repeatedly used as a political tool to criticize power sector reforms, but it lacks proper context and a breakdown of actual expenditures.
Unfortunately, these delays led to huge cost overruns, largely due
to inflation and breaches in contract terms caused by the effusion
of time.
“It is important to note that the delays led to at least a doubling of the various contract costs and the overall cost of the NIPP. Furthermore, many of these projects were not completed
until several years later and several of them are still ongoing as I speak.
“However, overall, these reforms were instrumental in steering Nigeria’s power sector toward modernization, deregulation, and private sector participation, even though many of the challenges of the sector persist to this day.”
Sen. Imoke regretted that though the reforms initiated were instrumental in steering Nigeria’s power sector toward modernization, deregulation, and private sector participation, many of the challenges of the sector persist to this day.
