A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Thursday, tasked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and probe all power ministers from 2017 till date over the alleged controversy surrounding the $6 billion Mambilla Project.
The group predicated its charge on the grounds that nothing has been achieved for several years despite the outrageous amounts spent on the project.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, who gave the charge, said: “All those involved in the misappropriation of funds for the White Elephant project which has not been realised for years must be brought to account for every stolen penny.”
The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, had a few days ago, said the EFCC is currently investigating the $6 billion Mambilla Power Project despite the legal tussle on it.
The minister, who spoke when he appeared before the Joint National Assembly Committee on Power to defend 2023 budget, said: “EFCC has stepped into the matter and we have given them information about it. We have given them history of the power project. Our lawyers have interfaced with the anti-graft agency, unless we are able to pull out of litigation, we can’t do anything.”
Reacting in a statement, Onwubiko described the Mambilla power project as a “White Elephant” project that has become another pipeline for grand corruption.
“The 3,050mw hydroelectric power project in Kakara village, in Taraba State, has now become one of the poster failures of the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, which Nigerians won’t forget in a hurry,” he said.
The statement noted that the country’s power generation is still far below 5,000mw, while the national grid continues to collapse multiple times and subjecting over 200 million Nigerians and businesses to gross darkness and blackouts.
It said: “Electricity bills have jumped by over 100 per cent despite the unavailable power forcing entrepreneurs out of businesses and more into the poverty pool.
“HURIWA demands the swift arrest of all power ministers from 2017 and directors accused of misappropriation in the Mambilla project, as well as contractors collecting funds and disappearing into thin air having cronies and proxies and godfathers in high places in government.
“It is unfortunate that the Mambilla project like the Ajaokuta Steel Company remain White Elephant projects with horns that have not been confronted or overcome. Like Mambilla, the Buhari regime allocated N20.4 billion to the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited from 2016 to 2021 despite the company’s idleness and failure to produce a single iron. What corruption in broad day light! What shenanigan! The EFCC must investigate these grafts!”
THISDAY
