The fiscal problems plaguing the State of Bauchi under the leadership of the Yuguda administration appears unending as the appetite of the 1st family continues an open exhibition of insatiability towards the State coffers. This is according to information recently made available to 247ureports.com through sources within the Executive arm of the Yuguda administration indicating that the treasury of the Bauchi State administration may have gone dry owing to the unregulated spending behavior of the State Governor and his close associates.
The State financial administrators of Bauchi’s bank accounts at the Finbank/FCMB appear to have unleashed a fertilized recklessness towards the State monies kept in their care. As 247ureports.com inquiry revealed, the main bank account housed at the Finbank/FCMB with the account number 212430000642501 has repeatedly been overdrawn by the Yuguda administration to the tune of N300million on the average, monthly – for a period stretching over two years. The other two accounts operated by the State government are not faring well either. Specifically, the account operated under the Secretary to the State Government [SSG] at the Finland/FCMB with the account number 212430000677001 – and the account operated under the Treasury department at the same bank with the account number 212430000532701 are frequently overdrawn – to the tune of N100million and above. Of which experts in financial management who spoke with our correspondent indicates that the frequent negative balance was symptomatic of a griever problem within the state administration.
Adding gravitas to the financial maladies, State checks [cheques] issued the State contractors, upon completion of their jobs, have begun to bounce upon presentation at the payment counter at the bank because of lack of funds – the Bauchi State government, in effect, issued dud checks to contractors. A cursory count points to about six contractors. The contractors who have refused to be mentioned by name, told our correspondent [and shown copies of the bounced checks to our correspondent] that the checks issued to them bounced upon presentation. They added also that the incidence of issuing dud checks has become increasingly recurrent. The six checks were issued against the main Bauchi State account at the Finbank/FCMB with the account number 212430000642501.
The financial maladies appear worsened by the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Yusuf Musa Gumli whom Governor Yuguda virtually handed the day-to-day operation of the state government. According to one of the aggrieved cabinet level officials, the Chief of Staff was made in charge of receiving all correspondences from cabinet level officials addressed to the Governor. The Chief of Staff was authorized by the governor to sieve through the correspondences and to use his discretion to determine which correspondences required the governor’s attention. And so, all the Commissioner’s official correspondences to the Governor are channeled through the Chief of Staff – including requests for money. As gathered, the Chief of Staff tampers with the correspondences that has to do with requests for money – to the extent that he returns the letter/correspondence to the Commissioner ‘instructing/advising’ that the value of the money requested be adjusted upwards to include his share. This practice is said to have gone on for some time.
While the State government battles to stay financially liquid, the 1st in the State appear to be enjoying the fruits of Bauchi State’s labor. According to highly credible information received by 247ureports.com, the 2nd wife of the Governor, Mrs. Biodun Isa Yuguda recently completed the erection of an estate in Lagos [picture of estate to come soon]. The estate, valued in excess of N665million, was completed late last month. Mrs. Biodun Isa Yuguda recently purchased a home in a luxurious suburb near London in the United Kingdom. The value of the house is not readily known but it is certain the value far exceeds her income. Keen observers of the Bauchi polity who are conversant of the ongoings at the government house query Mrs. Biodun’s source of income.
The various Local Government Areas [LGAs] financial accounts are not spared by the operatives of the Yuguda administration. As gathered, the security operatives staged in Bauchi State, the-likes of the Joint Task Force [JTF] and the State Security Services [SSS] in connivance with agents of the Yuguda administration are reported by sources to have been collecting from each LGA Chairman monies for upkeep of the security in the State. Last month, the sum of N5million was collected from each of the LGAs and paid directly to the leadership of the security operatives for security maintenance. It is worthy of note that the federal government already provides for the financial needs of the security operative deployed to Bauchi State. The state government also had earmarked the sum of N17billion for security upkeep of the State.
Concerned citizens of Bauchi State who have a keen grasp of the activities surrounding the security upkeep of the state and monies earmarked for the project, point to the SSS Director as being fraudulent with his duties in the State. Some of the concerned citizens indicated that the SSS Director uses the threat of insecurity to ‘shake-up’ the state government and the various local government into ‘letting go’ untold sums of money to ‘maintain the peace’.
One of such ‘shakeups’ at the Tafawa Balewa LGA following the Bauchi State Government relocation of the Headquarters of the local government from Tafawa Balewa to Bununu led the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Local Government Alhaji Idris Ibrahim Halilu to cry foul – stating that, “when we are relocated we moved some of the council properties to Bununu, but we left many in Tafawa Balewa based on advise. The security operatives advised us to stop moving the council properties for now in order to achieve sustainable peace, and as law abiding citizens we obeyed their advice”. The LGA present operates with temporally files without its archives or historic data.
Meanwhile the state government has awarded N11.6billion worth of contracts to firms believed to be fronting for the Secretary to the State Government. The sum of N2.6billion contract was awarded for the erection of a federal teaching hospital while N8billion was awarded for the erection of an International Airport. Seventy [70%] percent mobilization fee equivalent to N8.4billion were paid out before the start of the two projects. Source allege that a large portion of the money was shared among close associates of the governor.
Information available to 247ureports through sources within the cabal in the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] indicates the $620,000 bribery scandal against the Chairman of the Adhoc Committee on fuel subsidy payment probe may have over poured onto the office of the Deputy Speaker of the lower chamber of the National Assembly [NASS]. Sources reveal that the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha may have become another victim of the bribery scandal.
According to sources, Hon. Farouk Lawan may not have been the lone victim in the conspiracy to change the leadership at the lower chamber of the NASS. The new revelation, as a source states, was that some of the officers of NASS who collected the $3m from the billionaire business man, Mr. Femi Otedola, did so with the
knowledge of some of the principal officers.
Particularly, the deputy speaker, Emeka Ihedioha who presided over the committee of the whole house when the report is adopted, knew about the bribe and “that explains why he called on Farouk Lawan to speak on item 29 during the consideration on the subsidy report.”
When he was recognized, Farouk Lawan then requested for the deletion of Mr Otedola’s Zenon Oil and two others and thus absolved them from any wrong doing.
Ihedioha thereafter put the question and it was carried, a decision that is making some members to now argue that the deputy speaker might have been briefed about the $3million dollars in which $620,000 had been paid to Farouk Lawan as installment.
To this end, over 350 members are now mounting pressure on Speaker Aminu Tambuwal to summon emergency session, with a view to taking a position on the saga.
It was also learnt that the speaker has summoned Mr Ihedioha and some principal officers to brief him on what they know about the $3 million bribe.
An aide of the deputy speaker is said to be moving round to ensure that the issue as it affects his boss is swept under the carpet and shut from the press.
The principal officers of the House have over the past few days holding several meetings, on the next line of action, and thus resolved to adhere to the Legislative agenda hinged on accountability and transparency.
Recall that Farouk Lawan, the chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Monitoring of the Subsidy Regime shameless admitted that he received $620,000 bribe from billionaire businessman Mr Femi Otedola less than 24 hours after he denied the allegation.
“I wish to categorically deny that I or any member of the committee demanded and received any bribe from anybody in connection with the fuel subsidy probe.” Farouk earlier stated in a press statement.
Our source also believes that some other oil companies and agencies may have been force to give bribe to the Farouk Lawan led committee but will be too afraid to come out to speak up “because given bribe too constitute an offence.”
This latest subsidy scandal is coming barely a month after a N44 million bribery allegations is levelled against the former chairman of the house committee on capital market, Herman Hembe who allegedly demanded the money from now suspended Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Arunma Otteh.
Information reaching 247ureports.com from sources atthe government housein Kano State indicates that the Joint Task Force [JTF] staged in Kano State under the leadership of Col Iweha has arrested five [5] suspects – suspected to be members of the boko haram.
Details are still sketchy but the information received indicates that the arrest was made within the Kano metropolis today, June 13, 2012 at 2pm.
Kano metropolis has served a hotbed of boko haram activities.
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state has effected a cabinet shake-up
leading to dropping of six Commissioners in the Imo State Executive
Council.
The affected commissioners are: Chief Ejike Uche (Public Utilities and
Rural Development), Nze Ogueri Enwerem (Commerce and Industry), Dr.
Obinna Duruji (Information and Strategy) and Engr. Ogwazuo (Culture
and Tourism).
Others are: Barr. Nelson Ezerioha (Transport), and Mrs. Ann Dozie of
Women Affairs and Social Development.
The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Prince Eze Madumere who addressed
newsmen after State Executive Council meeting in Government House
disclosed that a list of new Commissioner Nominees has been forwarded
to the House of Assembly for screening.
He said that the appointed commissioners are Ichie Uche Mbanaso, the mayor of Orlu, Hon. Chinedu Offor, the Senior Special Assistant to the
Governor on Media, Barr. Lady Nnanna Ugochi Okoro, Mr. Chima
Iwuchukwu, Barr. Emma Ekweremba and Prince Charles Onuoha, the Senior
Special Assistant on MDGs.
Madumere added that the governor also effected a minor reshufflement
which also affected some Special Assistants and Senior Special
Assistants which its list would soon be made public.
He explained that the affected appointees were dropped following the
desire of the governor to effect some changes and re-jig the machinery
of governance after re-assessment of progress made by the present
administration in the past one year.
Information reaching 247ureports.com through sources within the military men staged at Karu in the Federal Capital Territory [FCT] indicates that the military man may have foiled a planned attack today at around 12noon.
According to early information received, the men of the Nigerian military stationed near the Karu area where the old Central Bank Quaters is located – during their routine stop and search exercises – came across a Honda Civil vehicle thatseemed suspicious. The military men stopped the vehicle and questioned the occupants of the vehicle. The response from the occupants of vehicle seemed “rehearsed and un-natural”. So “we decided to search the vehicle” stated one of the military men who conducted the search.
The search uncovered dangerous weapons and other electronic gadgets that the military men could not readily determine what it was. The weapons were concealed inside the trunk of the vehicle. In particular, several riffles [AK47] was discovered hidden under the tyre and some canisters were found under the seats of the vehicle. The two occupants of the car have since been detained by the army. It is unsure the identities of the detained culprits.
The military has since put up military check points along the road leading from Nyanya to Kurudu where a military estate is located.
Honourable Minister of Power, to Participants In Executive Intelligence Management Course 5 at The Institute for Security Studies, Abuja, on Monday, June 11, 2012.
It is my pleasure to be in the midst of the top echelon of the nation’s intelligence and security community to discuss with you the state of Nigeria’s electric power sector, especially the new direction in which it is headed under the President Goodluck Jonathan Administration. An efficient power sector is central to national security, national survival and national prosperity, just as an efficient intelligence and security system is a desideratum. Modern society runs on electricity, and electricity development itself cannot take place in an environment which is not safe and secure. Yet, both the power sector and the security environment in Nigeria are going through challenging times.
I would like, at this juncture, to publicly commend the intelligence and security community in Nigeria for its heroic service to the nation. The men and women in various intelligence and security apparati stand in harm’s way every minute of the day so as to provide a conducive environment for 167 million Nigerians to live and work in peace and harmony. Theirs is the ultimate national sacrifice. As has been observed over the ages, there is no love greater than the fact that a man should lay down his life for the benefit of his people. Still, the immensely sacrificial role of our security men and women is scarcely recognized by the larger society. The few lapses in their performance of duties are those which daily catch media headlines, with the impression sometimes created that they are not quite competent. Yet, when junior officers in the Nigeria Police Force went on a strike in the early 2000s, the first and only time in our national history, no bank in Nigeria opened for business for even a second! Not even banks in rural communities where the crime rate is very low opened for a moment.
The Federal Ministry of Power appreciates the effectiveness and efficiency of the men and women who, every second of the day, protect our lives and our assets and ensure there is peace and order in society. Towards the end of 2010, the President and Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, directed soldiers to join the police to guard all electricity installations across our vast country. Some citizens who did not appreciate the wisdom and foresight in the President’s directive took exception to it. But today the whole world knows who was right and who was wrong. Suffice it to say that to this day all power facilities in the country have bravely been protected by our intelligence and security agents, despite the considerable security challenges in the nation. Theses gallant officers rose to the occasion when some dare-devil elements tried some months ago in Yobe State to attack our power facilities. And when the undesirable elements pursued the soldiers to a hospital where they were receiving medical treatment, the soldiers once again gave a good account of themselves.
Nigerian intelligence and security operatives will be among the most efficient in the world if provided with the necessary facilities. Nigerian military officers are always in high demand for peacekeeping operations, having excelled in such places as the Congo in the 1960s, in Lebanon in the early 1980s, in Liberia in the 1990s, in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, etc. The Nigerian police have also excelled in international operations right from independence in 1960. They have excelled in the Balkans, in Namibia where in the 1980s they were voted the best (under the command of Mr Ezidimma Ifejika) out of the police forces from 50 countries around the world, and in Haiti where some four years ago the United Nations performed a special ceremony in New York to honour the exceptional performance of our police officers. If our security agents perform outstandingly in international assignments but do not display the same quality at home, it follows logically that the problem is not in the nature of these men and women. The problem has to do with the local system. It has to be changed. But this is a matter for another day.
THE POWER SECTOR REFORM
The reform of the environment which we advocate for the intelligence and security agencies in Nigeria for optimum efficiency has since started in the electric power sector. True, the reform preceded the Jonathan presidency because the extant Electric Power Sector Reform Act was enacted by the National Assembly in 2005. Yet, the reform has become synonymous with President Jonathan because he has pursued it with far greater commitment than any other person. The Road Map for Power Sector Reform, which he launched on August 26, 2010, in Lagos to the applause of the Nigerian people and the international community, remains to this day the most comprehensive document on electricity development in Nigeria. Complete with timelines and costs over a considerable period, the interpretation of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, as enunciated in the Road Map, makes the document truly a tour de force.
Some of the highlights of the Electric Power Sector (EPSR) Act of 2005 are the closure of the state-owned power utility named National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), its replacement with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) (though as a transitional company that would exist for only 18 months), the creation of 18 companies out of the state-owned power monopoly, the liberalization of the power sector and the consequent privatization of the 18 PHCN successor companies. There are other highlights like the creation of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Act (NERC) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
ESPR(2005) ACT IMPLEMENTATION
It is a pity that sweeping and ambitious as ESPR(2005) Act is, its implementation has not been the best. For instance, the PHCN ought to have stopped to exist as a legal entity since 2007 (that is, 18months after the Power Reform Act came into existence), yet it still exists. The operation of the REA was suspended in 2009 following reports of the discovery of a 5.2 billion naira fraud allegedly involving top officers of the agency, the Ministry of Power and National Assembly members. The suspension was wrong because the REA is a creation of the law which, far from being amended or overturned, has remained in existence as it was enacted. The NERC leadership was also suspended in the wake of a purported uncovering of a fraud. The leadership compromising the chairman, vice chairman and commissioners was thus replaced with a sole administrator. The office of sole administrator was unknown to the law establishing NERC. The consequence of this executive action was that investor confidence in the legal and regulatory framework of the Nigerian power sector became threatened at many points. Investment in the sector dried up quickly. This is not surprising. Capital is a coward. It goes to the safest of places. That is why anytime the political stability of any place is threatened existing investors look for the nearest exit door and prospective investors thank their stars they have not fully parted with their funds.
COMPLYING WITH THE LAW
In recognition of the centrality of full compliance with the law, especially with the ESPR Act of 2005, in order to restore the confidence of investors and the general public in the power sector reform, President Jonathan decided from day one to make his administration adhere strictly to all relevant laws. The Rural Electrification Agency has been brought back fully. It now has a Managing Director, and not a sole administrator whom most people considered to be a more or less an undertaker. The REA has a reasonable vote in this year’s budget. Still, the funds available are still a far cry from its requirements. There are about 2,000 communities in Nigeria without electricity. This is not acceptable to the Jonathan Administration which regards electricity as a fundamental right of the Nigerian people. By the time the REA operations were suspended in 2009, there were some 1,970 ongoing electricity projects in various rural communities in the country. What is more, contractors handling REA projects are currently owed N3.2billion. Some of the contractors borrowed huge amounts from banks at high interest rates, with some having already lost the properties they used as collateral. Some of the contractors have unfortunately died, heartbroken, poor and still indebted.
As part of the commitment to the rule of law, President Jonathan has long reconstituted the leadership of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. The leadership structure is now consistent with provisions of the ESPR Act. The result of all this is renewed confidence in the power sector at home and abroad.
SOME AFFIRMATIVE INDICATORS
At no time in our national history has the power sector in Nigeria excited the investor community as it has done since 2010 when President Jonathan resumed the implementation of the EPSR Act and followed it up with the launch of the Road Map for Power Sector Reform. He has done other things to demonstrate an unflinching commitment to the success of this sector. For example, he has long revived the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), which is the intervention agency implementing the ambitious National Integrated Power Project (NIPP). The NIPP will add about 4,700MW to the national grid. It is, among other things, adding 4,000 kilometers of transmission lines to the national electricity asset base. The NIPP was in limbo for about three years preceding President Jonathan’s assumption of office. Under this dispensation, however, things are taking a new shape. Working in collaboration with the Senate, this Administration has been able to identify and recover hundreds of power equipment containers belonging to either the NIPP or the PHCN which were abandoned at the seaports for years or auctioned or declared missing. On Thursday, June 7, 2012, I went to one of the terminals in Ikorodu, Lagos State, to inspect some of the containers.
Given the Jonathan Administration’s devotion to Nigeria’s electricity development, it is not surprising that the international community, which has for several years adopted a largely negative attitude towards Nigeria, has demonstrated an unparalleled interest in the power sector. When the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) called in 2010 for of Expressions of Interest (EoIs) in the privatization of PHCN assets, an unbelievable 331 EoIs were received. The EoIs came from reputable companies across the world. 135 of the EoIs have now been shortlisted by the National Council on Privatisation to bid for the assets next month. The bids will be processed and evaluated shortly after, and the results announced in good time. The entire privatization will be conducted in the finest tradition of transparency and in line with the best international practice. The privatization process must be concluded this year. As you know very well, the president has warned that in no circumstance will anybody be allowed to tamper with the process, nor can the date be shifted by even a second. I would like to state here for record purposes that the privatization timetable was shifted from March–May to July—October, this year, at the behest of prospective bidders.
It is also important to remark here that one of the 18 PHCN successor companies will not be privatized. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) will remain government-owned but managed by a firm with a robust record in this field. Manitoba Hydro international of Canada will from next month sign the management contract for the TCN. This is a major development in the reform of Nigeria’s power sector.
The World Bank has long keyed into the reform. It is providing Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) to the Bulk Electricity Trader, a new firm established and its board appointed within the original timetable of the Road Map for Power Sector Reform. The PRG is to provide comfort and confidence to power producing companies. It assures them that any quantum of power they produce will be paid for. This firm assurance has become necessary because none of the 11 electricity distribution companies is right now creditworthy. Once they become creditworthy, the Bulk Trader will cease to exist because the distribution companies will now be dealing directly with power producers.
It is a measure of the international investor confidence in our reform that General Electric, the world’s largest electricity company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Ministry of Power to assist produce 10,000Megawatts within a decade. What is more, GE will take 10 to 15% equity in new plants. This is remarkable because even though GE has for decades sold turbines to Nigeria, it has never invested a kobo in the local economy. The icing on the cake is that GE will start to produce its turbines in Nigeria, the first time it will ever do so in West Africa. Siemens of Germany does not want to be left out. It has, therefore, decided to participate in the building of plants to generate 10,000MW in Nigeria. It will, in addition, lead a concerted effort to study how the traditional and alternative sources of power can be integrated in a seamless manner. Siemens will also build a service station in Nigeria, the first time it will have such a facility in the West African sub region.
The United States EXIM Bank signed, in the last quarter of last year, an MoU to provide 1.5billion dollar facility to firms operating in the Nigerian power sector using American products and services. The total amount of credit made available to Sub Sahara the previous year was $1.4b with $200m going to Nigeria. In other words, it is significant that a whopping $1.5b is now coming to the Nigerian power sector alone.
At this juncture, I would like to repeat the obvious: none of these firms is Santa Clause or Father Christmas. Each is rather run by hard-nosed businessmen and women. They are enthusiastic about the Nigerian power sector simply because they recognize that this is where the action is right now. Nigeria is a huge market. The telecoms companies are doing very well in it. Considering that power is a much bigger sector than telecoms, far-sighted businesses taking an advance position in respect of the ongoing power reform will benefit enormously from it. Prudent investors go beyond scary newspaper headlines to make key business decisions. Companies like Vodafone of the United Kingdom, which got swayed by stereotypes about Nigeria when it was invited to invest in the country’s GSM market following the liberalization of the telecoms sector in 2000, still regret their costly action.
CAPACITY EXPANSION
When President Jonathan assumed office in May, 2010, the quantum of power generated in Nigeria was about 2,800MW. The figure spiked by 1,000MW within one year. The increase was mostly through recoveries from existing plant capacities. By January, 2012, we were generating a record 4,400MW. The transmission infrastructure, which could not wheel 3,800MW in August of 2010 when the country generated 3,800MW for the first time, was able to wheel 4,400MW this time. This development meant a massive improvement in the transmission facilities. Of course, this kind of incremental improvement is not what a nation like ours needs, as we must leapfrog. It is, therefore, delightful that the president has approved the building of a Super Grid of 765kv, more than a double of the capacity of existing transmission lines which are either 132kv or 320kv.
The highest quantum of power which we have ever generated in Nigeria’s history is 4,400MW—and it was produced in January, this year. This quantum of power is far from satisfactory. Ours is a nation of 167m. South Africa, a nation of 47m, generates 40,000MW. Yet, South Africa has been suffering load shedding since 2008 because of insufficient power availability. In other words, if we produce 40,00MW by 2020, which is our national goal so as to become one of the 20 largest economies in the world, we should not rest on our laurels.
It is regrettable that by December, 2011, we could technically produce 5,500MW, that is, we exceeded our target by 500MW. Yet, only a little over 4,000MW was actually generated because of gas constraints. Seventy per cent of Nigeria’s power is generated from thermal stations while the remaining 30% is from hydro stations. Huge constraints with both sources of power account for the decline in power availability since the first week of March, this year. The nation expects that with the 12-month emergency in the gas sector which the Ministry of Petroleum Resources recently declared, there will be a substantial improvement in gas supply to the power sector. Still, the volume of gas available to the power sector will not be enough at the end of this period because we should then be capable to technically generate 9,000MW.
As regards power generation from the hydro stations, it is unfortunate that we are experiencing this year the lowest water levels in 10 years in the dams at Shiroro, Kainji and Jeba where the nation’s three hydro stations are located. With low water levels, very little power electricity can be generated from them. The good news is that we are devising a method to ensure availability of sufficient water in the dams all year round, whether there is a near drought in Nigeria or in any part of the West African sub region from where we derive floods to run the hydro stations. As you may have known, the current water problem in the dams arose from the near drought last year in neighbouring West African countries from where we get what is called black flood. This flood gets to its peak every November while the white flood, which refers to flood derived from within the Nigerian territory, gets to its peak in July of every year.
Before the end of July, there will be a remarkable improvement in power supply across the nation. Apart from improved supply from the hydro stations, there will be more gas for the thermal plants in places like Olorunshogo in Ogun State. What is more, some of the units at the NIPP plant at Ihonvbo in Edo State will have been commissioned. A minimum of 1,000MW will be added to the national grid this year, bringing the quantum of power delivered to the grid to 5,500MW. Unlike in the past when there would be an improvement in power supply in one month only for it to dip the next month, the improvement this time will not be reversible. It can only get better, from month to month and from year to year.
It should be added here that this Administration takes the question of electric power mix seriously. We are starting a 1,000MW coal-fired plant in Enugu, another in Kogi and yet another in Gombe. Nigeria’s coal is among the best worldwide, as it contains very little sulphur. Coal is the most significant source of electric power in the United States and South Africa, among other places. We are also developing in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources the development of small dams across the country with a viewing to getting off grid electricity. Many of you may have known that the Ministry of Power is developing big hydro stations in Zungeru, Gurara and Mambilla. As part of the effort to diversify our power mix, a 10MW wind farm is about to be commissioned in Katsina. We are conducting studies to develop solar energy on a substantial scale, all the more so given the declining cost of developing solar energy. Studies are also being conducted on the possible use of nuclear energy. We are doing so fully aware that Japan has just phased out nuclear plants in its territory. Germany, another highly developed country, has also just taken a step against its development of nuclear energy.
DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CAPITAL
In recognition that human beings are both the means and the end of development, the Jonathan Administration, right from inception, decided to make the improvement of the welfare and capacity of the workforce in the power sector a priority. The president in 2010 requested the National Assembly to approve a 57billion naira vote in the supplementary budget for the payment of monetized benefits to PHCN employees which were denied them since 2003 when the Government introduced the monetization of fringe benefits to public servants. Some 99% of PHCN employees have since been paid; those yet to be paid are those with incomplete records, and each will be paid the moment the full records are presented.
In June, 2011, the Government approved a 50% increase in the salary of the PHCN staff to incentivise them for greater productivity. To enable a smooth takeoff of the new salary, the Government made available to the PHCN a 9billion naira grant (not loan) for the payment of the 50% increase for the months of June, July and August, 2011. The Government also decided to convert some PHCN 11,000 casual workers to the permanent staff, with even retroactive effect! As you are listening to this lecture, many of such workers are receiving letters regularizing their appointments. To make PHCN employees part owners of the 17 PHCN successor companies to be privatized this year, the Government has long decided to reserve a certain percentage of shares of the companies for only PHCN workers.
Worried at the abandonment since 1989 of the famous structured PHCN training programme of its staff, the Government has resolved to take the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) to a proper pedestal. The forthcoming boom in the power sector will require a huge infusion of well trained human capital into the system. Ten brand new Government-owned power plants will soon be commissioned, in addition to new substations all over the country. Independent Power Projects are also being established. Where are the human resources to run these facilities? This is why NAPTIN is critical to the success of the impending revolution in the power sector. NAPTIN is about to commence the training of 500 young engineers for one year so that they can become authentic power professionals.
TARIFF REVIEW
The Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act of 2005 vests in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission the power to adopt any tariff methodology it deems appropriate for the nation. NERC adopted some seven years ago the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) methodology. This means a major tariff review every five years. The law makes it mandatory for NERC to adopt a tariff which is fair and just to the Nigerian people as well as to investors. The periodic major review does not necessarily imply an increased payment by every consumer. For instance, in the second MYTO, which came into effect on June 1, 2012 (even though it ought to have started on January 1), the less privileged ones in society who consume 50kilowatts hour or less in a month now pay less. They now pay N4 per kilowatt hour, instead of N7. Meters are now to be given them free of charge. They are no longer required to pay either for meter maintenance charge or fixed charge. In this year’s budget, there is a provision of an almost N50b subsidy for low income earners. This subsidy must be differentiated from the petroleum subsidy because, among other differences, there is no cash involvement at all in electricity subsidy. All the Government has tried to do is to prevent the less privileged from paying heavily for electricity consumption which is an item of need, and not an item of want.
The middle class now pays a slight increase of 11%, and not 88% which has been reported in some media. But rich peopl and other high end consumers now pay a cost reflective tariff. Different studies have shown that Nigerian citizens and businesses are willing to pay a little higher if guaranteed regular and quality electricity. The cost of electricity self generation is prohibitive. Besides, self generation pollutes the environment and even wipes out whole families who inhale carbon monoxide in their sleep.
The new tariff should enable the PHCN to generate up to N22.5b monthly, the irreducible amount it needs to make in order to meet its obligations to primary suppliers like Shell, Agip, Ibom Power, the NIPP and the Nigerian Gas Company. Indebted to the tune of N400b, the PHCN has hitherto been paying the International Oil Companies (IOCs) only 50% of their services. Should the IOCs be forced to carry out their long standing threat of stopping further supplies to the PHCN, it will be calamitous for the whole nation.
Indeed, more investments are critically needed in the power sector. Fresh investments of $10b annually are needed for the next decade to enable our country to generate 40,000MW by 2020 so that we can become one of the 20 biggest economies in the world by 2020. We must encourage companies like Shell, Agip, Siemens, Daewoo, GE and the rest to continue to have confidence in our country. After all, return on investment is much higher in Nigeria than in practically every country in the West. Investors in infrastructure are doing quite well, as demonstrated by those who have invested in telecommunications in the last decade. The power sector is the next theatre of action.
Let us conclude this conversation by calling to mind the title of a prophetic poem by the late distinguished South African writer and anti-apartheid activist, Dennis Brutus. In “The Sun On This Rubble” published in the 1980s, Brutus predicted that the racist government in South Africa would be terminated within a few years. Cynics thought that Brutus was too optimistic. But the apartheid system did crumble irreversibly in the early 1990, and Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first popularly elected president in 1994.
The sun has been shining on South Africa since 1994. It is about to start shining on the Nigerian power sector. God bless Nigeria.
Just weeks ago 247ureports.com reported on the land racketeering and grabbing in the FHA, 247ureports also stated in that report how the FCT Minister Senator Bala Mohammed is also in the fore front of this alleged land grabbing where he is busy grabbing land for himself and the president and the President’s wife.
Latest report available to 247ureports shows that the Minister of the FCT Senator Bala Mohammed is at it again, as he is reported to be involved in land scam which may now pose a show down between him and the Former First lady Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua over who owns a land which is situated within the heart of the town at the Central Business District Abuja. 247ureports gathered that the land the rage over the plot of land began when the FCT however revoked the land title ownership which was given to an NGO named Women And Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF) and which also is being funded by Hajiya Turai, but the alleged land grabbing of the FCT Minister surfaced back when the said land were relocated to another organization known as African First Ladies Peace Centre, which is gathered by this paper that the financier is the First lady, Dame Patience Jonathans.
247ureports.com learnt that recently the Minister may have fallen out with the First Lady, and all these alleged land grabbing and racketeering may be another way of pacifying the First Lady which she may not be aware of.
According to 247ureports documents of the land indicated that the said land which is situated at Central Area close to ThisDay Dome was issued and allocated to the NGO (WAYEF) on 19th February 2010, however in a shocking way, another document which was dated August 11, 2008 emerges from the FCT government, showing that the same plot of land has been indeed allocated earlier the African First Ladies Peace Centre.
However, responding the said organization being funded by Turai, indeed seek a legal redress and filled a suit at an Abuja High Court which it also challenges the deeds the FCT administration, which has turned a blind eye to the ongoing construction.
However, in a recent ruling, which was delivered Justice Peter Affen gave an injunction which also ordered the FCT to hold back all parties from any further activities at the site. However, in flagrant disobedience to the said injunction, two weeks after it was issued, 247ureports visit to the site shows that people working for the African First Ladies Peace Centre has started work again on the crisis ridden land which now compel counsel to Turai to as a matter of urgency filled contempt proceedings against the FCT Minister Senator Bala Mohammed which also the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke; Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS); and the Federal Capital Territory Administration were joined in the suit. According to the lawyer representing the former First lady in the suit, they claimed that the organization had gotten all the necessary perquisites which made them to have approval of owing the land, and also paid a total sum of N166 million of the constitutional N184million in September 2011, to the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) for the right of occupancy of which the remaining balance of N18million was paid in November 2011.
Inspite, of the said payments the land was however revoked by the FCT and even though the land C of O of August 2008 which was given to the African First Ladies Peace Centre had specified that the land was to be used only for ‘‘public institution,’’ the centre is not listed in any official document as an agency, department or parastatal of the federal government, but according to the letter of revocation obtained by 247ureports.com and which was dated November 2, 2011 and signed by one Mrs Asma’u Mukhtar on behalf of the FCT Minister the land title was revoked ,“due to an overriding public interest.”
In the same vein, another letter of revocation was also issued to the African First Ladies Peace Centre by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory signed by Mrs Asma’u Mukhtar and also dated November 2, 2011.
Subsequently, the court granted the prayers of the plaintiff and orders thus: ‘‘I will and do hereby record an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants whether individually or collectively from taking any action or step that adversely affects the title, rights and interests over and the said piece of land pending the determination of this suit.”
It will be recalled that in our last report, it was also alleged that the FCT minister is currently building a big complex in a land along Apo area, which also said that he grabbed for the for the first lady and he is also accused of another land grabbing which the owners of the land in Maitama and Wuse 11 which he gave to the two of Mr. president cousins have taken him to court.
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has written to felicitate with General Abdulsalami Abubakar as the former Head of State attains the age of 70 years today, June 13, 2012.
In a congratulatory letter to General Abubakar, President Jonathan prayed that God will continue to grant him good health and many more years of fruitful service to Nigeria.
“On the occasion of your landmark 70thbirthday anniversary, I write on behalf of my family, the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and on my own behalf, to extend warm felicitations to you.
“There is no doubt whatsoever that over the past 70 years, you have lived a richly productive and fulfilled life. Your uncommon diligence, gallantry, loyalty, patriotism, and enduring sense of committed service saw you rise not only to the pinnacle of your chosen military career, but also saw the onerous duty of the political leadership of our nation thrust upon your shoulders at a critical period in Nigeria’s developmental history.
“It is to your eternal credit that you acquitted yourself demonstrably well as Head of State and courageously mid-wifed our country’s transition to civil democratic governance in May 1999.
“You have also been steadfast and ready to continue to give of yourself in the service of our nation and in the course of the process of conflict resolution and peace building across the African continent,” President Jonathan wrote.
The President joined General Abubakar’s family, friends and well-wishers in thanking God for his life of outstanding achievements and wished him happy birthday celebrations.
AGED dictator’s President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, has claimed that her husband is still fit and also assists her doing household chores including running bathing water for their children.
Mugabe’s wife told the state media at the weekend that her husband was still healthy despite old age. The ruthless ruler, in power for the past 32 years has made several trips to Asian countries to seek specialist treatment for life-threatening ailment such as prostate cancer.
But Grace denied Mugabe’s deteriorating health saying, “They say Mugabe is a very old man and this and that, but he is very sound and lucid,” she said.
Grace also made astonishing revelations that while Mugabe is feared by his political opponents, he is made to do daily household chores.
She further denied that she had total control over Mugabe’s political decisions amid speculation that Grace influenced the generiatric to cling to power although he has told his confidants including former Defence Minister Enos Nkala that he was “tired.”
“Nonsense! That’s nonsensical! He is a very intelligent man, please! What you are telling me is that you understand my husband. As intelligent as he is . . . you know sometimes when I want to say something to him I am so scared because I know the answers I am going to get.
“When he stands up to speak at any moment, even now, impromptu, if you say, President, make a speech, he will do it amazingly.
“Are you then saying he carries a tape recorder so that he listens to me first before he speaks? No, do not do that to the President.”
Mugabe’s wife narrated how the old President is not only active in office, but even at home working up as early as 5am depending on the schedule of the day.
“It is my husband who gets up out of bed first. Obviously, because he is the man of the house, he has to open the doors for the workers to come in. He does that everyday. I do not have to get up.
“He wakes up at around 5 o’clock and wakes the children up. I always tell him that he is spoiling them, they are grown ups. I am telling you, he will go to their rooms, knock on the door, enter, wake them up, run the tap for them.”
Grace said she is a strict mother who ensures that her children are aware that they should prepare well for their future.
The Dana Air plane crash that took the lives of over 150 people is a grim reminder of the bloody price of corruption in a geographical space that is better renamed “the federal republic of corruption.” It is also evidence of the genocide to which corruption subjects millions of Nigerians annually. Those innocent victims perished because they were unfortunate enough to be Nigerians or to be in Nigeria where the airline industry is not spared the ravages of Nigeria’s monumental corruption. The Indian owners of Dana Air know Nigeria is a vast estate of corruption where anything is possible and thus they brought old, faulty and ill maintained planes (flying coffins) that would not be allowed anywhere else to ply Nigerian routes and profit from the dehumanization of the citizenry.
The context of Nigeria’s stupendous corruption is better understood from the gravitational pull of Abuja, a city that is totally bereft of any productive or commercial activity but yet has become a bustling centre of gravity that pulls governors, local government chairmen, councillors, commissioners, senators, permanent secretaries, generals, godfathers, ministers, special advisers, traditional rulers, area fathers, cultists, ritualists, civil servants, contractors, pastors, imams, entrepreneurs, sycophants, native doctors, contractors and others into its orbit, creating a global capital of corruption and the largest congregation of criminals feeding on “the corruption industrial complex” in the world’s most notoriously corrupt nation.
In normal climes, a non-productive administrative city like Abuja would be serene and saved from the madness of productive industrial and commercial centres, but the trillion dollar corruption industry has ensured that Abuja has become a vortex that sucks all within its radius into the vast criminal syndicate that constitutes Nigeria’s psychopathic leadership. As the Dana Air plane crash, the Farouk Lawan comedy of hypocrisy and the trillion naira loot in the oil subsidy scam exemplifies, the Nigerian masses are in an open prison and death row faced with penury and genocide as a consequence of a sadist and mentally retarded leadership that thrives only on corruption.
Every month, each of the 774 local governments receive hundreds of millions destined for the provision of basic services such as pipe borne water, construction and maintenance of primary health care centres, primary schools, rural roads amongst other functions. State governments likewise receive tens of billions monthly destined for the provision of major health centres, state schools, roads, job creation, vocational training, urban development schemes, agricultural schemes, security, housing and other developmental and social programs. The federal government formulates policy and has overall control and responsibility for the rest of the nation with an annual federal budget in trillions destined for the national maintenance of security, the provision of federal schools, electricity, the construction and maintenance of major federal roads, health centres, the formulation and implementation of policies on industrialisation, job creation, defence, foreign affairs and others.
Alongside the offices of the local government chairmen, governors and the president are councillors, commissioners and state assembly members, special assistants and advisers, secretaries, federal ministers, national assembly members, federal boards, parastatals and other government agencies, all with varying degrees of budgets, constituency votes and responsibilities for which they all get substantial monetary allocations destined for infrastructural, economic and social development across the nation. The sum total of budgets and allocations accruing to different tiers of government annually amounts to billions of dollars, enough to build all the necessary infrastructure, create jobs and substantially reduce poverty across the nation.
In spite of the colossal annual amounts accruing to all sectors and tiers of government, the nation is a failed state lacking in all of the most critical infrastructure such as pipe borne water, roads, electricity, rail lines, functional hospitals, functional schools and other basic infrastructure as the funds are simply looted by the leadership at every level. The immediate effects of such massive looting have condemned the citizenry to the genocidal consequences of corruption with Nigeria having the single highest poverty rates in the world, one of the highest road accident, infant and maternal mortality rates in the world and one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the world which all constitute a veritable death sentence with the average Nigerian expected to die young from the genocidal ravages of corruption.
The absence of pipe borne water and functional hospitals have ensured that thousands of citizens die needlessly on a daily basis from water borne diseases and other treatable diseases, while bad roads constitute death traps killing thousands on a daily basis. Poverty, homelessness, hunger and social violence send other thousands to an early grave added to the mass exodus of thousands of youths through perilous routes in tragic circumstances leading to the untimely deaths of many of such youths. As the empirical evidence have shown, the cumulative genocidal effects of corruption is unquantifiable and Nigerians will continue to be in an open prison and on collective death row, paying the bloody price of corruption until they rise-up against the corrupt and unconscionable leaders holding the nation hostage.
