CORRUPTION AND THE POWER SECTOR

The Mambilla hydroelectric power project is yet another monument to waste

Conceived in 1972 under the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon, the 3,050MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Project in Taraba State was earmarked as a veritable tool to tackle the country’s persistent power shortages and stimulate economic growth. But after more than five decades and almost a billion dollars expended on preparing feasibility studies, hiring consultants, and doing preliminary works, the project remains more of a paperwork. Plagued by corruption, mismanagement, legal disputes and other structural delays, the Mambilla hydroelectric power project has become another monument to waste for which Nigeria has become notorious.

A fortnight ago, a former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, was convicted of corruption, following which he was sentenced to a hefty 75 years in prison. Mamman was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 12-count charges bordering on money laundering and diversion of funds released for the Mambilla and Zungeru hydroelectric power plant projects to the tune of N33.8 billion. Although Mamman went underground before and after his conviction by the Federal High Court in Abuja and refused to show up for the sentencing, he was eventually apprehended last week by the EFCC with the agency releasinghis mugshot in handcuff.

Incidentally, while the case was playing out in the court, Mamman had joined the Taraba State governorship race under the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections. That gubernatorial dream may remain a dream. Meanwhile, in one of very rare instances, Mamman was sacked in 2021 by the late President Muhammadu Buhari after barely two years in office. But his conviction has again sparked conversations on why the power sector has not worked, and what accounts for the $5.8bn Mambilla failed project.

Indeed, Mambilla highlights critical issues of transparency, accountability, and governance deficits in the country’s public sector. It is in the mould of the abandoned $460 million Abuja CCTV camera project for which a Chinese loan was obtained, and the moribund Ajaokuta Steel project that has become a painful drain pipe. A complex of four dams and two underground stations, the Mambilla hydro project has over several decades enjoyed serial funds allocations from successive administrations but still has zero megawatts on the national grid.

After years of dilly-dallying, the project was formally awarded in 2003 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. But since then, Mambilla has been enmeshed in serial problems, passing from one contractor to another with all sorts of disputes. Incidentally, Sudan, at about the same time, and even though at war, awarded and built 1,250 MW hydropower project in record five years. The Mambilla Power project was awarded to a local contractor named Sunrise Power Transmission and Procurement Company on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT), a company allegedly discovered later to be fronting for another foreign company.

However, apparently in a bid to undercut Sunrise that was not performing, the federal government decided to deal directly with Sinohydro to which fresh contracts for civil works were awarded. In response, Sunrise took Nigeria and Sinohydro Corporation Limited to the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) in Paris, France for contract breach. The process of settlement is still in progress, with millions of dollars to the bargain. So, Nigerians are in a long and perpetual wait for Mambilla to solve the agonising problem of darkness. Moreover, it is not even on the priority list of the current administration.

Given the monumental scandals that have emanated from this project, it is no surprise that anti-graft agencies have had to wade into some of the disputes. In January 2024, the EFCC arraigned former Minister of Power Olu Agunloye over the failed Hydropower project, accusing him of awarding contract to Sunrise Power without budgetary provision, presidential approval, or cash backing. A year later in 2025, the charges were amended to include forgery, gratification, and disobedience to lawful presidential directive. Agunloye has, of course, denied the allegations.

In a 2021 report, the World Bank had rated Nigeria as the poorest country in the world on power supply to citizens with 85 million people not connected to the grid and a loss of $26 billion annually. If anything, the situation in this critical sector has only worsened, with NISO now projecting a $29 billion loss going by its 2025 report.

 Lack of electricity has limited access to healthcare, education, and other opportunities for majority of Nigerians. Many small and medium scale businesses have been crippled due to the prohibitive cost of generating their own power. Even the big business ventures, particularly the manufacturing ones, are also feeling the biting effect of energy poverty with consequences stretching to every part of the economy. 

Despite the fact that we cannot grow our economy without sorting out this critical infrastructure, most of the people that have been saddled with the responsibility seem to care more about their pockets than the public good. It is therefore commendable that Mamman is being held accountable. But the Mambilla and power related corruption scandals are mere symbols of a culture of graft for which much of Nigeria’s public sector is known. What is shocking is that neither investigation, trial, nor conviction has deterred present and future corruption schemes. It is perhaps time to review the regime of punishment for public sector corruption in Nigeria.