President Jonathan Seeks N1.8billion To Fund Ghost Project-PREMIUM TIMES

President Goodluck Jonathan cutting a
ribbon
By SaharaReporters, New York
President Goodluck Jonathan is asking
the National Assembly to appropriate
about N1.8 billion this year to help
connect his home state of Bayelsa, to the
national electricity grid, but this request
suggests that federal officials only want to
pocket the money.
PREMIUM TIMES investigations into the
proposed project reveal that President
Jonathan is asking money for projects
that have been completed seven years
ago, and that were all fully paid for in
2006 when he was the governor of the
state.
In the 2014 Federal budget recently
presented by the Minister of Finance,
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to the National
Assembly for consideration and approval,
the government lists as priority, the need
to connect the state to the national
electricity transmission network, but this
shocking blunder is drawing attention to
the absence of project monitoring and
evaluation principles in policy making
under the current administration, and the
shabbiness that attends to budget
preparation.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to
the President on Power, Beks Dagogo-
Jack, could not explain how the provision
found its way into the budget, but claimed
the issue might involve some complicated
technical explanations only the
bureaucrats at the Federal Ministry of
Power could make.
PREMIUM TIMES investigations reveal that
such provisions, that many federal crime
investigators are familiar with, are some of
the several fraudulent financial requests
smuggled into budgets to steal public
funds.
The Special Adviser to Bayelsa State
governor on Power, Olice Kemenanabo, on
Tuesday, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES
that Bayelsa State was indeed linked to
the national grid more than eight years
ago.
The Director General, Budget Office of the
Federation, Bright Okogwu, demanded a
text message enquiry when contacted
Thursday. He did not respond to the
enquiry as at the time of publishing this
report on Saturday.
However, the Senior Special Adviser to the
President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe,
insisted Friday night the N1.8billion
request is not fraudulent.
“It is true contract connecting Yenagoa to
the national grid was awarded in 2006,”
Mr. Okupe said in response to a PREMIUM
TIMES enquiry. “It is a 2x40MVA station
connecting only Yenagoa. That voltage is
far too small to cater for the needs of the
state.
“The present contract is to further
upgrade what is on ground and extend
services to other parts of the state. It will
be wrong and ignorant to say the 2014
provision is fake!”
But officials at the Federal Ministry of
Power, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES but
requested anonymity for fear of official
reprisal, insisted that there is no official
documentation for the project, and that it
is merely a “graft allocation.”
The officials said they were “stunned and
amused at the claim from the presidency
which is obviously an afterthought.”
“It is not true that the Bayelsa
transmission line needs an upgrade. If it’s
an upgrade, why didn’t they say so in the
budget? Why was it presented as a totally
new project?” the official queried.
The project, titled, “Connection of Bayelsa
to national grid”, under the allocation of
the Federal Ministry of Energy (power),
was described as a new project with
reference number MOP1001637.
The budget did not say the requested
N1.8billion was needed for an upgrade of
an existing facility.
Power ministry officials point to the
existence of a 132kv transmission line
from Owerri, in Imo State, linking Ahoada,
in Rivers State, and Yenagoa, in Bayelsa
State, which was constructed by Pivot
Engineering Nigeria Limited, insisting that
the current fresh provision in the budget
amounted to “linking the state to the
national grid for the second time,
evidence that the money goes into
someone’s pocket.”
Documents from the Bayelsa State
Investment Promotion Council and the
power ministry offer the historical
background to power development in the
state, dating it back to 1988 prior to the
creation of the State in October 1, 2006.
Then, the area relied on only one
transmission line, which was not
upgraded by successive administrations.
This spurred the Federal Ministry of Power
and Steel, in conjunction with the then
National Electric Power Authority, NEPA, to
award a $56 million, [N3.2billion] contract
to Energo Nigeria Limited in 1999 for the
construction of a single phase Owerri-
Ahoada-Yenagoa 132 kv transmission line
to link Owerri to Yenagoa.
However, in November 2000, the scope of
the job was reviewed to accommodate the
Yenogoa-Imiringi and Ahoada-Abonnema
33KV double circuit lines, with the
associated substations at Ahoada and
Yenagoa.
The contract was renegotiated before it
was re-awarded for $76million to Pivot
Engineering Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary
of Honeywell Group, owned by Oba
Otudeko, a chieftain of the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, and one of the
notable political allies of the President.
Subsequent reviews raised the contract
sum to about N6.3 billion initially, and
later N11 billion in 2005.
Despite the allocation of about N1.115
billion in the 2005 budget to facilitate the
completion of the project, the contractor
failed to meet the December 2005
completion deadline.
Pivot finally completed the job and
successfully connected Bayelsa State to
the national grid in 2006.
Like Bayelsa, like Gurara, others
As in the Bayelsa case, the 2014 budget
also indicate that officials of the federal
government have also fraudulently
budgeted about N700 million to the
purported reason of linking Gurara, in
Kaduna State, to the national grid this
year.
PREMIUM TIMES investigations, however,
show that Gurara’s connection to the
national grid has remained one of the
constant features in successive federal
budget proposals since 2011
About N918 million was provided for the
project in 2011; N556.74 million in 2012,
and N1.5 billion in 2013.
Officials at the power ministry say this is
a loud indictment of the federal budget
making process under the Jonathan
administration where project monitoring
and evaluation doesn’t appear to be a
factor for policy development.
It is just another drainpipe into some
pockets officials at the power ministry
said in Abuja.
Other controversial provisions, which had
featured in successive budgets since
2010, include those for the 10MW Katsina
Wind Farm, which took N3.15billion in
2010; N510 million in 2011; N800 million
in 2012; N250 million in 2013, and N1
billion in 2014.
Similarly, the construction of the 215
Kaduna low pour fuel oil, LPFO/gas-fired
power plant, which was allocated about
N3.7billion in the 2014 budget, gulped
N7.65billion in 2011; N3.7billion in 2012,
and N2.744billion in 2013.
Feasibility studies for coal-fired power
plants in Enugu and Gombe States, which
got allocation of about N1.7billion in the
2014 budget, took about N2.04billion in
2011; N2.223billion in 2012, and
N1.7billion in 2013.
Apart from the N461 million set aside for
some renewable energy projects, these
projects, which were initiated to help
provide alternative sources of power
towards meeting government-set
electricity generation target of 10,000 MW,
have incidentally turned out to be pipe-
drains for corrupt public officials.