By Dr Olu Agunloye, former Minister of Power
***deliberate attempts to misinform and mislead the public are not only unlawful but repulsive and are not in the interest of national development.
The revered Daily Trust Newspaper has been publishing through its Editorial official, Mr Ilyasu Gadu, the reasons why the Mambilla hydroelectric power project in Taraba State has not taken off in the last 22 years. However, the publication is fraught with misrepresentations and malicious inaccuracies and insinuations. Incidentally, these misinformation and misrepresentations appear so important to the Daily Trust Editorial Board that it published these on 4 February 2025 and re-published them again on its Editorial Page on 15 April 2025. This is why it is imperative to react to these untruths and set the records straight because deliberate attempts to misinform and mislead the public are not only unlawful, but they are also repulsive and are not in the interest of national development.
One can understand that 22 years may be long enough for the ordinary man in the street to forget the correct details of some hydroelectric power project that has spanned four democratic regimes in Nigeria, but that should not apply to the highly rated newspaper like the Daily Trust or to a seasoned journalist like Mr. Ilyasu Gadu who writes for multiple media agencies including TheCable News and the Daily Trust. This is more so as the matter in question has been in the public domain and especially in Nigerian Newspapers for the last seven years. For instance, Messrs Leno Adesanya of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company and the former Minister of Power under the Buhari regime, Barrister Babatunde Raji Fashola were involved in Newspaper Advertorials on the Mambilla project in 2019. Between the two of them, the advertorials on the Mambilla project were in five or six major Nigerian newspapers with over a dozen pages devoted to these and the barrage lasted nearly a month.
Several civil and criminal aspects of the Mambilla power project are in six to eight Nigerians courts and the prosecution and defence documents are in the public domain in the courts. The Mambilla facts and information are also in France where there had been an Arbitration Panel on Mambilla Power Project contract which sat for about five years until late January 2025. On top of all of these, some or all of the details and facts on the Mambilla Project had been published by Mr. Ilyasu Gadu’s TheCable News several times in the past four years and Journalist Ilyasu Gadu has access to the Mambilla papers and documents and as well as access to the Nigerian and foreign lawyers in charge of the cases in Nigeria and France. So, why is Mr. Ilyasu Gadu distorting facts, publishing falsehood and misleading the public and, in the process, stamping a poor image on the Daily Trust? Is Daily Trust also part of the Mambilla Scam?
We know that in Nigeria, gruesome or wholesome details are usually quickly forgotten within 2 or 3 years. So, one may forgive those who may have forgotten the correct details of why “the sun has not risen over the Mambilla hydroelectric power project”, but we should not overlook the deliberate forgetfulness of Mr. Ilyasu Gadu and of Daily Trust Newspapers in a matter in which Mr. Ilyasu Gadu himself is a major player; and, in which, he has only deliberately elected to mislead the public and to malign the former minister of power who awarded the Mambilla project as a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) in 2003.
We will not tackle the malicious aspects of the actions of Mr Gadu and Daily Trust in this response, but we owe it as duty to tell the public the true reasons why the sun has not risen over the Mambilla power project in 22 years. The Mambilla Hydropower Project has not taken off because the contract awarded to Messrs Sunrise Power and Transmission Company in 2003 as a BOT contract was re-awarded multiple times under four Nigerian presidents during the 14 (fourteen) years between 2003 and 2017. Besides, no money, whatsoever, has been paid so far to Sunrise and Company in the 26 years (2000 to 2025) that the Company had been pursuing the contract for the construction of the Mambilla hydroelectric power project. It is totally incorrect for Mr. Ilyasu Gadu and Daily Trust to say that “Sunrise was paid some mobilisation money but did not, for whatever reasons, execute the contract fully.” This is wrong.
It is grossly misleading for Daily Trust to claim that money, in whichever guise, was paid directly or indirectly to Sunrise Company for the Mambilla contract. In specific terms, the 2003 Contract was at no cost to the Federal Government of Nigeria. The contractor, Sunrise Power and Transmission Company, was to source private sector investment all by itself to construct the Mambilla hydropower project, to operate it, and maintain it for 35 years so as to recoup its investments and profits while selling the electricity from the power station at tariffs predetermined by the Federal Government of Nigeria and thereafter handover the dam to Government of Nigeria. But while Sunrise was scouting for foreign and local investors and funds in 2003, the BOT contract was set aside and later re-awarded by Government officials and again re-awarded three more times later.
It is a matter of fact that even though Sunrise company has not been paid in any currency to date by the Federal Government of Nigeria, several billions of Naira and millions of US Dollars had been spent or misappropriated or stolen by Government officials overseeing the development of the Mambilla project, especially between 2015 and 2023. Some of these officials have been apprehended and some are being investigated while others are walking freely around with their loot. Mr. Ilyasu Gadu certainly knows them.
It is incorrect and unfortunate for Mr. Ilyasu Gadu and Daily Trust to have published that “to protect its contractual propriety over the project in order to prevent it from being re-awarded to another contractor, Sunrise and company put a caveat emptor on the project”. This is derogatory and criminally false. In truth, the BOT contract on Mambilla power project awarded to Sunrise and company in 2003 was re-awarded under President Obasanjo in 2007. There was no Caveat Emptor in force. It was re-awarded in 2010 under President Yar’Adua, re-awarded in 2012 under President Goodluck Jonathan, and again re-awarded in 2017 under President Buhari by Minister Babatunde Fashola. There were no Caveat Emptor orders in force.
Therefore, what is Daily Trust trying to do with its misleading publication made in February 2025 and repeated in April 2025?
Finally, coming after the January 2025 testimonies of two former presidents of Nigeria at the International Arbitration in France, it is sad and perhaps reckless of Mr Ilyasu Gadu who works for both TheCable News and Daily Trust to sum up the International Arbitration court processes with: “it is likely that Nigeria’s quest to boost its power sector through the Mambilla power project will be delayed for long if not totally scrapped.” Where is this coming from for an official of TheCable News which has been involved in the Mambilla power game since 2015? It is sad. Very sad.
Dr Olu Agunloye
Minister of Power (2002 – 2003)
16 April 2025