The Senator representing Taraba Central Senatorial District, Haruna Manu has said the Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project remained one major project President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must adequately address as its multiplier effect could make Nigerians smile.
Sen.Manu made this disclosure while addressing the Senate Press Corps after presenting his motion on the power project last Thursday.
Responding to a question on his motion bordering on power supply, Senator Manu said: “There wouldn’t be any meaningful development without power, there is none. There is nothing if we want to develop as a country, there is nothing as important as power.
“Even the road infrastructures we are talking about, they are not as important as power because if you have a steady power, you will have the road infrastructure.
“So it is very, very important and that is why almost all the various speakers when they contributed they talked about the importance of this project.
“But some of them have talked about the legal issue that is there in the project but we have heard what the chairman of the senate committee on finance said that the legal issue has been resolved.
“And I believe that since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he has actually given his commitment at the COP28 in Dubai and I am sure he will take this project very seriously and I believe this administration will take this project unlike what happened previously.
“This project it will be actualized during the lifespan of this administration and that is what we want and this project is not just for Taraba state, it is not just for the North East, it is for the entire country.
“You could imagine what will happen injecting 3,050 megawatts into the national grid. Currently the whole consumption of my state is not more than 15 megawatts.
“I remembered when I was the deputy governor, we were having less than 10 megawatts, my boss had an engagement with NEPA being the former minister of power for us in Taraba state to have up to 15 megawatts of electricity, the whole state the consumption is just 15 megawatts.
“So you can imagine injecting 3,050 megawatts into the national grid. Currently what do we have? Around 4,000 megawatts but it is fluctuating, it is not up to that 4,000 megawatts, sometimes we have as low as less than 2,000. So you can imagine what 3,050 megawatts to the country.
“And the most interesting thing about this project is, the entire cost of the project is five billion, seven hundred and ninety-two million dollars, Nigeria is contributing 15%.
“We have consortium of Chinese companies that are contributing 85% of the entire project cost.
“And you have heard what former speaker House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, former governor of Sokoto said, one of the contractors that want to do the Mambilla, they have constructed the largest dam in the world by constructing more than 22,000 megawatts in China and it is the largest in the world.
“So they have the experience, it is just for us in Nigeria to get serious with our own 15% counterpart funding.
“Not only that, if you heard what I said in the motion, you can see the multiplier effect of that, the local content of it, the entire 15% is even for the local content.
” What that means is our local contractors will be part and parcel of this project.
Ashaka Cement, Depan Motors, Innoson Motors, all of them they will be part of this project and it will create jobs, more than 55,000 jobs will be created through this project.
“The lifespan of the project is 72 months, so you can imagine what will happen when you are creating 55,000 jobs because of the Mambilla Hydro project.
