Former Senator Shehu Sani has criticised the prolonged delay in the Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project, alleging that corruption has prevented the project from becoming a reality more than four decades after it was initiated….
Former Senator Shehu Sani has criticised the prolonged delay in the Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project, alleging that corruption has prevented the project from becoming a reality more than four decades after it was initiated.
Sani, in a post on X, said the project was officially initiated by the administration of former President Shehu Shagari in 1982, with the aim of generating 2,600 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria.
He said the project had remained stalled for more than 40 years, blaming what he described as widespread corruption involving officials and private interests.
“In 1982, President Shagari officially initiated the Mambila Power project. The project aimed to supply the nation with 2,600MW of electricity,” Sani wrote.
He added: “For over four decades, the project has been stalled by rabid corruption. Consultants, Contractors, Politicians and Ministers of power and Justices used Mambila to power themselves.”
The Mambila project, located in Taraba State, has been repeatedly proposed as a major addition to Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity, but its implementation has faced decades of delays, funding challenges and contractual disputes.
The project was the subject of a recent ruling by the International Commercial Chamber in Paris where Nigeria was let off the hook of a liability that would have reached over two Billion Dollars by claimants who claimed contractual obligations that were never approved by the Presidents Obasanjo and Buhari.
Some former top government officials were named of involvement in suspicious transactions related to the contract dating back to 2006 and running through the Obasanjo, Yar’dua, Jonathan, and Buhari administrations.
The issue was finally laid to rest with the ruling which has also led to moves by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to set up teams to probe those who were named as being complicit in the game of sleaze that the contract was turned into by those involved.
