Abubakar and power probe

By Wahab Adebimpe

For the past eight years, essentially the period between 1999 and 2007 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo held sway, the issue of power supply in the country was a front-burner. The electricity situation went from epileptic to total blackout. Many small and medium-scale businesses collapsed while some so-called big companies relocated to neighbouring countries on the West African coast. That was the period when Nigeria became the largest market in the world for generators as it became the most dependable alternative for industrial and domestic use. Enter, the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, instituted by Obasanjo with the view to addressing the new challenges of the power sector.

The NIPP was actually designed as a new capacity enhancing project to help build new power stations on a fast-track basis. Regarded as the largest ongoing power project in the world, the NIPP was supposed to help build over 100 new power stations that would combine to give Nigeria additional 4000mw of electricity. The project began and the contracts were awarded. Having suffered so much electricity shortage, it was no surprise that Nigerians wanted quick answers which weren’t forthcoming. This was the situation on ground in the run up to the 2007 elections that ushered in President Umaru Yar’Adua. Obviously unaware of the rot and degeneration in the sector, Yar’Adua had promised that if elected, he would declare a state of emergency in the power sector. He won the election and when the time to make good his promise came, the former governor of Katsina paltered and prevaricated. He was said to have expressed shock and indignation at the reality in the sector. The president reportedly hit the roof when he found out that with over $10billion dollars expended on the sector by his predecessor, the country could not even generate up to 3000mw of power from all her power stations put together. This scenario was what occasioned the recent House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel probe. Thanks to the live broadcast, the shenanigans that were perpetuated in the power sector for eight years were laid bare as the dramatis personae explained their roles to the Godwin Ndudi-Elumelu-led committee. They opened a can of worms. Shock and disbelief were the generic emotions among Nigerians with the discovery that many companies just got contracts with bogus contract fees paid upfront and never even visited site. Some reportedly just did halfhearted works and scrammed.

While one is not entirely surprised by some of the people fingered as having played major roles in the plundering of the sector, it has equally come as a surprise that some prominent Nigerians with impeccable records are being targeted as fall guys. This is contrary to what Elumelu said in a recent interview. According to him, “This probe is not targeted at anybody or group. We have a mandate to tell Nigerians the truth and we would stop at nothing to do that.” Well said, but events of the last two weeks have proved otherwise. When Energo’s name was mentioned as one of the companies that got contract, the propagandists went to town proclaiming that the firm belonged to Abdusalami Abubakar, former head of state. The debonair gentleman was alleged to have used his connections to get the contract for Energo. For the records, as at 2007, Abdusalami was a non-shareholding chairman of Energo Nig Ltd. In fact, it took a long time for him to accept the position. He was coerced out of retirement to take the position of Air-Marshal Ibrahim Alfa, the substantive chairman of the company who died in 2000. This was barely five years after he had successfully mid-wife Nigeria to active democracy. Initially because of his self-effacing nature, he declined the offer preferring to enjoy his retirement and contribute to the development of humanity with his philanthropic activities without much attention. Somehow, he was prevailed upon and he accepted the job but with a proviso that he would have no hand in the day-to-day running of the company or influencing jobs for it. The company directors agreed, extremely happy that they had been able to win, to their side, a man reputed for his acuity and sharp intellect. It took him all of five years to agree to be a shareholder of the company. Thus, it brings to question what some people meant by alleging that the former Commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria used his position to get contracts for the company. If he did not do it in the eight years when Obasanjo ruled, a time when he was (still is) seen worldwide as Nigeria’s messiah, why now? Abdusalami could have got any contract he wanted at the snap of a finger without any government official raising an eyebrow. He has worked hard for any favour that comes his way and worked even harder for Nigeria’s stability.

Indeed, there is no gainsaying Abdusalami’s place in Nigeria’s history.

Adebimpe wrote from Lagos.