Punch
Bushy scenery, birds chirping and children seen fishing were what our correspondent witnessed when he visited Tambi and Tep, sites of the much talked about Mambilla Power Project, which was conceived in 1972.
The realisation of the project, which is expected to generate 3,050 megawatts of electricity, boost the nation’s energy supply and create jobs, appears impossible in the lifespan of the Buhari regime, which is barely two years to wind down.
Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, in whose domain the project is sited, recently cried out that the Federal Government was not giving the Mambilla Power Project the serious attention it deserved. Ishaku, while addressing the opening of the North-East Governors’ Forum in Jalingo, recently alleged that the project received zero allocation in the 2021 budget.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Power and former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, also recently expressed similar disappointment over the way the Federal Government was handling the power project.
Suswam stated, “The story of the Mambilla Power Project is a sad one. Governments in and out and have paid lip service to the Mambilla Power Project. This administration said so much about the project, but six years down the line, it’s still lip service that has been paid to the issue of the Mambilla Power Project.
“On the part of the National Assembly, we have made concerted efforts to at least see some activities on the sites; unfortunately, those have not come to fruition yet and that is why we are raising it with the minister, who himself is feeling very frustrated as to why nothing has been achieved.”
Since its inception 49 years ago, it has existed only on paper and only recorded little progress 35 years after when China’s Gezhouba Group was awarded a contract to develop the project with 2,600MW installed capacity in 2007.
In 2012 when Ishaku was the Minister of State for Power, the capacity was increased to 3,050MW. The project suffered administrative bottlenecks until 2016, when it received government approval.
However, the Kashimbilla multipurpose dam project in the Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State, which was conceived decades later, has been completed and will be inaugurated soon as work on the remaining components are nearing completion.
An energy expert, who is privy to the details of the Mambilla Power Project, confided in our correspondent that billions of naira had allegedly been sunk into the hydropower project, which is now a conduit for siphoning money.
He said, “For years, money has been siphoned through the National Integrated Power Project in the name of constructing the Mambilla hydropower project, and I don’t see this administration doing anything different.
“A company I consult for is expected to handle the evacuation of the power from Sardauna through Takum to Katsina-Ala and Makurdi in Benue State and I have been following developments about the project keenly. At the moment, the project is just a conduit for siphoning funds. About N15bnhas been earmarked as compensation for the transmission line, but we can’t proceed with our assessment because the hope for the project itself is waning.”
Worried by the politics of the Mambilla Power Project, members of the North-East Governors’ Forum, during their 5th meeting in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, deliberated extensively on the project and noted with dismay that the project, as important as it is to Nigeria and the North-East sub-region, was surrounded by a lot of contractual encumbrances, which had stalled its realisation.
The forum decried the lack of serious attention accorded the project by the Federal Government and called on the President to accord the project the desired seriousness it deserved by establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle to address the encumbrances and bring the project to reality.
Located at the Tambi settlement, Barup village, Kakaraward inhabited by several communities such as Barup Shili, Leme Bura, Tep, MbuNgrikah and Darba Mara, the four sites of the project are highly inaccessible and have been overgrown with bushes and shrubs, even as the locals hunt and fish freely in the areas.
With extremely cold weather close to freezing point, we rode on a motorcycle on a hilly and slippery road for four hours and 20minutes from Gembu, the headquarters of the Sardauna Local Government, to Tambi and Barup, where one of the dams is to be constructed. Unfortunately, despite the expertise of the motorcyclist, the bike slipped off the road five times and our bodies became dirty before we arrived at the Barup waterfall.
While the journey lasted, we stopped at several places, trekked and ferried through the rivers to access the site. At the Barupwaterfall inhabited by Mambilla, Fulani, Kaka, Panso and Kambu tribes, the locals sought to know our mission in the community. After exchanging pleasantries, one of them, Mr Gengwi Oliver, told us that the community was no longer allowing people to spy on them in the name of the Mambilla Power Project. According to him, the project is nothing but a scam.
Oliver stated, “I am 42 years now, and I started hearing about this project when I was less than seven. So, the project is older than me, but there is nothing on the ground to show for it.
“Survey work on the project existed only on paper. I can’t even talk of compensation. Look at this village, there is no access road to this place. You can testify how difficult it was for you to get here.
“For heavy duty machines to get here there must be access roads. The terrain is extremely difficult to construct roads, so I don’t see any hope for this project any time soon.”
At Tep village, close to the famous Gar Hill chain, which stretches into the Republic of Cameroon, a middle-aged man, Abdul Dahiru, told our correspondent that the community was eagerly awaiting the outcome of the project, but after years of waiting without results, the enthusiasm was dying down.
He said, “Most of us were happy when in 2017 when the Federal Government re-awarded the contract to three Chinese firms, but it appears that nothing is going to happen to the project as usual.
“We know that the project will bring development to our communities and improve our infrastructure. At the moment, we can only boast of a dilapidated primary school and nothing else.”
As Nigerians continue to await the project’s completion with diminishing hope by the day, the Federal Government will raise their hope by hitting the ground running now that the project has been reviewed to 1,500MW from 3,050MW.
