Power: Ribadu Goofed On Jonathan By: Leadership Editors on August 31, 2013 - 4:52am BY UMARU ARDO Democracy would lose its defining egalitarianism if it foreclosed free expression of viewpoints by its adherents - including often unreasoned perspectives by forces and personalities that seek to diminish and divide. This democratic privilege confers on Nigerians a free choice to deploy researched opinion that informs and leverages society or humdrum commentary that diminishes and stunts. Former chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and chieftain of the newly birthed All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, chose the latter option that diminishes and stunts - ostensibly under the guise of ‘progressivism’. Here’s why. In a recent interview, Ribadu attacked President Goodluck Jonathan’s policy on power, alleging the government is confused. For good measure, from his sanctimonious APC perch, he slammed other successive regimes under the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as equally culpable in the power sector negatives he alleged. According to Ribadu, who incidentally was the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 general elections, “For now, it is a sector that people just see as a place to make money; and if you make money out of it; from the public servants to the contractors, there is no way, no magic that you can get results from this type of behaviour, and then Nigerians will not get electricity.” Swiveling to deliver an appraisal on the performance of the PDP government (which he was part of at one time) since 1999, in terms of providing infrastructure and good governance to Nigerians, he said, “There is no doubt that we have not achieved much since the coming of this administration. So the PDP has failed, and there is no doubt about it.” Apparently, the former anti-graft boss is pushing a philosopher-king model of president, a scenario he probably aspired to deploy on assuming that coveted perch; but a project his party (then ACN, now APC) thoroughly rubbished him on. If in his tirades, Ribadu was modest enough to concede some responsibility; his allegations would have had a smattering of authenticity. He did not. As the boss of a key institution to fight corruption (EFCC), at the heart of the governance challenges faced by successive administrations since independence, what did he contribute to change the situation? Under the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency, a kingly $16 billion was spent on IPPs and nothing came out of it. It could further be recalled that when the National Assembly probed that sordid phase of our national life there were damning indictments. Ribadu’s tenure as the anti-graft head, extended into the early phase of the Umaru Yar’Adua presidency. As the arrow-head of anti-corruption war, what did Ribadu do that posterity will record as principled breakthroughs of his tenure? When Ribadu talks about corruption in awards of contracts, particularly in the power sector, one will only but remember the era that he looked the other way while impunity reigned supreme. This reaction is a useful opportunity to update Ribadu on what the current administration is doing to transform this critical power sector, though the Jonathan presidency has enough minders to defend it. The centrality of power to infrastructural development cannot be over-emphasised. It is the bedrock for industrialisation and indispensable component in our homes and businesses. Despite annual capital injections averaging $2 billion per annum, the available capacity of Nigeria’s state-owned electricity utility has been stuck at about 2,000 MW for the past two decades and until recently. The attendant cost – in terms of lost GDP – is many times greater than all the waste and leakage which have attended these capital budgets. This is the inescapable link between electricity supply and our economic development and social reality. Conscious of this, the Goodluck Jonathan administration, from inception made power sector reform, an integral part of its transformation agenda. It sets for itself the doubling of electricity output with its first term and quadrupling the current output in one decade. Working within a holistic framework, the president thrust the reform of that critical sector in the hands of technocrats that peopled the Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP) with a view to eliminating red tape and the often over-bureaucratic and inefficient nature of decision-making in government. It also empanelled a think-tank, the Presidential Task Force on Power as the engine room to drive the vision of the PACP. The Task Force was mandated to develop the Roadmap and provide monitoring to ensure effective implementation of the plan. Today, it is self-evident that the ideas are getting into fruition. Similar to the reforms in the telecommunications sector, the roadmap is being scrupulously and diligently implemented and meticulously applied. It is one of such implementations that received a boost during the president’s state visit to China recently. Nigeria signed a pact with Sinohydro-Cneec Corporation, a synergy of two Chinese firms (Sinohydro Corporation and China National Electrical Equipment Corporation), to build a 700-megawatt Hydro Power station on the Northern Zungeru River in Niger State. The project is expected to gul163 billion Naira (about $1 billion). Another Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Nigeria and China’s Sinohydro Corporation, to build a 3,050-Megawatt Hydro Power Plant on eastern Mambila Plateau in Gembu, Taraba State. These two Hydro Power projects are expected to be completed by 2017.
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 07:00:50 +0000
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