The Economic Adviser to the President, Alhaji Tanimu Kurfi, on Tuesday accused officials in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government of launching a propaganda war against the President Umaru Yar’Adua administration over the actual amount spent on the power sector.

Kurfi said the campaign was aimed at presenting a smaller figure as the total amount of money spent by Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2007.

Kurfi spoke against the background of a media report that one of Yar’Adua’s aides, Mr. Foluseke Somolu, claimed that only $5.16bn was spent on power by the former government, as against $10bn stated by the President.

This was even as indications emerged on Tuesday that the House of Representatives Committee on Power which is investigating the sector is yet to invite serving governors who served as ministers of power and steel during the Obasanjo administration to explain what transpired during their tenures.
In an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abuja, Kurfi said the propaganda warfare started after Yar’Adua informed the Vice-President of General Electric, Mr. John Rice, who visited him, that Obasanjo spent about $10bn without any commensurate impact on the sector.

He said, “It is not on NIPP (the National Integrated Power Projects), Mr. President talked about total spending in the power sector. Total spending in the power sector referred to spending by the NIPP directly, PHCN, joint IPPs jointly owned with the international oil companies.

“So, he gave a presentation to Mr. John Rice, who is the Vice-President of General Electric and simply alluded to the fact that the problems of the power sector in Nigeria are not just funding.’’
Quoting Yar’Adua, he added, “If it is spending, my predecessor has spent not less than $10bn in the power sector, and hasn’t got power output or generation and delivery commensurate with that amount.”

Kurfi alleged that in trying to make the total amount seem smaller, the propagandists highlighted amounts spent on marginal sub-sectors like PHCN or the National Integrated Power Projects, and presented it as the total spending.

“It is only when you try to look at the specifics that they will tell you, ‘No, I am only talking about PHCN or NIPP’.
“The President was talking about global spending on the power sector. If you look at it from that point of view, the amount involved will invariably be much higher than $10bn.
“So, you had a situation whereby some former officials were trying to conduct a propaganda warfare against the current administration, and they were joined by some officials who started to feed information that the amount was less.”

However, Kurfi said he was not aware of the reported sack of Somolu who was a Senior Special Assistant on Power Sector Reform and Coordinator on NIPP to the President over the conflicting figures on power spending. Somolu, who had also served in the same capacity in the former administration, was reportedly sacked for contradicting Yar’Adua’s claim on the total amount spent.
Kurfi said, “I really don’t know if anybody was relieved of his position, or if anybody was a major propagandist in that respect.”

Kurfi lauded the House of Representatives for initiating a probe into the matter, adding that it would help to unravel what transpired during the last administration. However, two days to the public hearing promised by the House Committee on Power, there are no indications that the committee has invited any of the former ministers in the sector.

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Power, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, had hinted on February 6 that his committee would summon Governor Olusegun Agagu (Ondo); Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Danjuma Goje; and the Governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswan.

Source: Punch