The Senate on Tuesday asked the promoters of the Zungeru Power Project Concession to suspend the process until necessary infrastructure is put in place to avoid a repeat of the pitfall of some previous concessions.

Its position was sequel to the outcome of an investigative hearing on a motion titled “Ongoing Bid To Concession The Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project Located In Niger State”, held on Tuesday by the Senate Committee on Power.

It stated that it was not opposed to the concession arrangements.

It told Representatives of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) that it was surprised at the speed the programme was taking when  the vital infrastructure that will help in evacuating the power, like the 132 line and the 35 km are at 15% completion.”

The Senate was also disturbed by the apparent  discordant tunes from the major concessioners who contradicted the 25 years concession period announced by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

The stakeholders had declared that the process will cover a window period of 30 years.

Due to this, the committee’s chairman, Gabriel Suswam asked that the project be suspended until all key players in the process are on the same page.

The committee fixed a meeting for  next Tuesday to feature the Ministers of Power, Finance and NERC, ICRC, BPE, among others.

The project is funded based on a debt equity ratio of 75% – 25% with Exim Bank of China providing a loan in the sum of $984, 323,013.08.

The balance of $309,250,000.00 was provided by the Federal Government as counterpart funding for the project.

The loan agreement for the project was executed on 27th September 2013 which is the commencement date of the project. The project was first conceived in 2001 and revised in 2012.

The Senate has begun moves to curtail the powers of the President to sack the Economic And Financial Crimes (EFCC) chairman.

A bill to this end which was sponsored by the Minority Whip, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP Enugu North).

It also sought to restrict EFCC staff from being appointed as the Chairman of the Commission.

In his lead argument,Utazi urged the Senate to approve the removal of any Chairman on the firing line of the President.

He explained that the thrust of the amendment of the bill titled: “Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act Amendment Bill and for other Matters Connected Therewith”, “is the issue of security of tenure for the Executive Chairman of the Commission.”

“For other anti-graft agencies created through the legislative instrumentality, before and later, that is, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the National Assembly ensured that the headship had security of tenure by ensuring that their appointments and removal, as the case may be, were subject to the confirmation of the Senate.

“That was not the case with the EFCC. Therefore, in this proposed amendment, it is intended to bring the EFCC in conformity with the other two anti-graft agencies of government. This will engender optimal performance by the Commission of the very important mandate assigned to it”, he said .

He added that the other thrust of the amendment, despite having already been taken care of by President Muhammadu Buhari with the appointment of Abdulrasheed Bawa as EFCC Chairman in February last year, required law to restrict such appointment to EFCC staff is being sought by the bill.

He said: “As a new Commission, it was understandable that its headship were appointed from outside of the Commission, for obvious reasons. However, the turning point of the Commission came when this administration which has as its mantra in the fight against corruption, took the pioneering and audacious step by looking
inwards, in the Commission to pick the first Executive Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to head it.

“This is very commendable and President Muhammadu Buhari has carved his name and administration in gold by this very singular action, and posterity will never forget him. All that is required of this Parliament is to endorse this Executive action by amending the EFCC Establishment Act to restrict non-trained EFCC staff from headship of the Commission, going forward. This will enhance professionalism in the service of this anti-graft agency”.

During general debate on the bill, all Senators supported the argument of seeking approval of the Senate before termination of appointment of any EFCC chairman by the President but differed on restricting appointment of the Commission’s Chairman to insiders.

In his remarks after the bill scaled second reading,the Senate President said restricting appointment of chairman of EFCC to insiders is a very good one but the proposed law must state it clearly that the position is political and not civil service that will require the most senior officer to assume the Chairmanship position.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has explained reasons for the investigative hearing setup by the Senate on the ongoing bid to concession the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant (ZHPP) in Niger State.

Declaring the event open on Tuesday, Lawan said that the event will help it to invoke its oversight constitutional responsibility to avert the transfer of unresolved liabilities and future third -party claims to Government.

The hearing sponsored by the Senate Committee on Power in line with the resolution adopted by the Chamber at its Plenary Sitting of Wednesday 23rd November, 2022, gave rise to the motion sponsored by the Chairman of the committee, Senator Gabriel Suswan.

He explained that the motion was aimed at ensuring that the proposed concession of the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant (ZHPP) was conducted on a ‘value for money criteria’ bearing in mind huge external loans and annual budgetary releases expended on its construction.

He added:”I am glad to note that the Committee has extended an invitation to all concerned stakeholders to come forward with their inputs, observations and contributions to the work of the Committee in carrying out its mandate.

“The concerns of the Senate which culminated in this investigative hearing must be seen by all well-meaning Nigerians from the context of Government’s recent experience with the privatization of power assets in Nigeria which has continued to attract public outcry and criticism.

“It is noteworthy that while a segment of the public has applauded the modest gains of the privatization of government -owned power assets in Nigeria, mounting challenges that emerged after the exercise have made many questioned the credibility of the process that produced the successor companies and the viability of such companies hence the need for extreme caution in the concessioning of the remaining government -owned power assets including the ZHPP”

He said the dangerous condition of the Nigerian power sector is indeed puzzling considering relentless investments and special interventions made by successive administrations to change the fortunes of the sector for the better.

According to him,available data indicates that between 2015 and 2022 alone, the Nigerian national grid collapsed 98 times.

He added:”This immediately brings to question whether the power to be generated from the ZHPP upon commencement of operation will be successfully and fully evacuated and if not, what will be the implication on the capacity of the concessionaire to meet its obligations under the concession agreement being contemplated.

“Failure to address such issues in the past have put Government in an unenviable position where billions of Naira are currently being paid to service contractual obligations that should have been avoided by Government if proper due diligence and consultation was done by relevant MDAs.

“It is therefore, expected that in the course of this investigative hearing, concerned stakeholders invited by the Committee will take advantage of this avenue to answer the above posers and many more as may be directed at them by the chairman and members of the Committee towards reaching informed recommendations that will form the final decision of the Senate at Plenary regarding the bid to concession the ZHPP.

” I wish to state here that while the Senate recognizes the respective statutory roles of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the National Council on Privatization and its Secretariat, the Bureau of Public Enterprises(BPE) and other MDAs involved in the proposed concession of the ZHPP, the Senate has a higher constitutional responsibility to carry out this investigative hearing to expose any semblance of corruption, inefficiency and waste as envisaged by sections 88 and 89 , 1999 Constitution.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Gabriel Suswan said the hearing afforded key players in the proposed concession on the ZHPP, the opportunity to shed light on the many questions that have trailed the concessioning process since it was made public.