Mambilla: We Didn’t Direct NSIA To Source For $200m Judgement Debt For Chinese Firm- FG

The Federal Government has said that it did not issue any directive to the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority to source for $200m judgement debt to a Chinese firm, Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

The Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Power, Aaron Artimas, stated this in a statement while clarifying a media report that the federal government had asked the Authority to source the amount.

The report had claimed that the federal government through the Ministry of Power had agreed to pay the sum and had mandated NSIA to work out measures for settling the debt.

The $200m settlement offer was to compensate Sunrise Power for the unlawful termination of the contract for the 1,525 megawatts Mambilla hydropower project and the re-award of the same to another Chinese firm.

According to the media report, Sunrise is expected to relinquish all claims to the project once the requirements contained in the agreement with the Federal Government were settled.

But the statement from the ministry said that there was no such directive from the Ministry of Power, nor the Minister of Power Saleh Mamman.

The statement reads, “Our attention has been repeatedly drawn to a so-called Punch Investigative report on a purported directive by the Presidency to settle an arbitration with Sunrise, the company previously awarded the contract for the Mambilla Power project.

“The report was neither initiated from the Ministry of Power, nor the Minister of Power had authorised a statement to be issued to such effect.

“At best, the story was either sponsored or a deliberate fabrication to achieve a preconceived goal, because the Ministry had nothing to gain from issuing such statement.

“Before the mischievous report, the Punch Correspondent covering the power sector had called to confirm ‘information’ that the government has authorised the payment, but was duly informed that we were not aware of such directive, only to come out with a lengthy report, attributing the story to ‘a source’ and in the same report unethically quoting the Special Assistant on Media to the Hon Minister for Power.

“Within ten minutes of the discussion with the Punch Reporter, the S A received calls from two other Reporters referring to a Punch Report and requesting a formal statement on the purported payment directive, which was pointedly refuted.

“No statement was issued and no other medium carried the report except The Cable, an online publication, which admitted upon enquiry that, they lifted their report from Punch.

“Only God knows what interests or objectives the Punch Newspaper wanted to serve but it was quite obvious that they intended to report their “privileged information” and the telephone call to the S. A Media, was only meant to legitimise it.”

“The Hon Minister for Power Engr Sale Mamman, remains focused on his mandate of delivering adequate power to all Nigerians and ready to collaborate peacefully with all stakeholders in the power sector value chain for optimum results.”

The statement is coming barely 48 hours after the NSIA clarified its role in the Mambilla power project.

THE WHISTLER had reported that the NSIA only received instructions to conduct value engineering on the 1,525 megawatts Mambilla hydropower project.

The Head of Communications, NSIA, Titilayo Olubiyi, had said, “We have received no such instructions. The only instruction we have is to conduct value engineering.”

But findings by THE WHISTLER had revealed that the NSIA’s mandate under the PIDF in relation to the Mambilla project is to conduct Value Engineering.

It was also gathered that VE is a best-practice approach for validating the project as it ensures that notable challenges on the project can be pre-determined and addressed in advance.

It also fosters cost reduction, improves project performance as well as efficiency, and enhances quality requirements.

The VE is being employed to improve the value of the project by examining the function of each item or element and its associated cost.

By weighing the cost/benefit ratio, THE WHISTLER understands that the development team can make suggestions for alternate construction methods, designs, or materials that improve the value of the project.

The Authority had made several disclosures on its role in the Mambilla project in its Annual Reports and also online.

As a committed investment institution of the federation, the Authority periodically updates stakeholders on the state of affairs relating to all its projects since they are of national priority.