Power Probe Was Politicised

 Senator Anietie Okon, Chairman of Rockson Engineering, spoke with TAYO ODUNLAMI on the need for government to quickly complete the power projects

Q: How would you assess the job of the House Committee on Power?
A: I am surprised really at the figures that the committee bandied about as that expended on the NIPP and other power projects. Their figures ranged from $10 to $15billion. This is in contrast to the credible official figures that have been led before the panel as actual expenditures. The true figure falls clearly below the $7billion mark. As a matter of fact, the former Technical Assistant to the President on Power, Engineer Shomolu was very categorical about the figures. He put the capital expenditures of PHCN at about $3billion and that of the NIPP was just about $2.5billion. This was followed up by the submissions of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Governor of the Central Bank whose figures were regionally in sync with the figures that were profiled by Engr. Shomolu. But the committee persisted in screaming from the roof top about expenditures in excess of $16billion in total defiance of figures that have been issued by credible authorities. The committee seemed to have been pursuing an agenda. Whose agenda, we are yet to determine.

Q: What actually is the main problem on the projects?
A: The federal government must become clearly focused in its approach to the issue of funding for the projects as a road map for addressing the dire power situation in the nation. So far, all we have seen has been a lot of vibration but certainly no definite direction in pursuing objectives. Many people are pursuing their own interests, their own different agenda.
The sensationalism that attended the probe has inflicted grievous harm on Nigeria’s rating in the international business community. The confidence of our technical partners like General Electric has been shaken by the sensationalism. Matters of letters of credits were blown out of proportion because people who discussed them did not really understand the technical details. And it is so bad. We have come to a position in the world today where if some local farmer strikes a pipeline in the backwaters of Nigeria, it affects the entire market for oil.
The wrong type of signal about the power projects in Nigeria is also playing off adversely on international money and capital markets. Not to talk about the jitters it has sent down the spine of local bankers here in Nigeria. We should draw lessons from the past when the Lagos metroline project was terminated because of politics. It was Nigeria which lost and not that project. When we have projects that are international in nature, it is important that we show restraint in the type of statements that we utter on them.

Q: The committee spoke of virtual non-performance…
A: We should not allow sentiments and emotion to overshadow the real facts about these projects. Most of the projects have really not come to their full term. A lot are slated in the contract terms for delivery in late 2009 and because of the nature of the EPC contracts, substantial vital parts of the projects have been completed. Turbines have been built and in many cases, generators for the turbines have been shipped into the country. That essentially depended on the goodwill that some of us contractors and even the projects ran on. You find that suppliers were able to raise funds offshore and proceeded to the manufacturers to place their orders. There is no running away from the fact that these projects must be completed.