Says they toppled his govt, stalled project
By Ibrahim Hassan
Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, retd, said yesterday that those who toppled his government did nothing to complete the Mambilla electricity project.
The Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station, located at Mambilla, Taraba State, is a 3,050 MW hydroelectric power project under development in Nigeria.
When completed, the multi-billion dollar project, estimated to cost over $5billion, will be the largest power-generating installation in the country, and one of the largest hydroelectric power stations in Africa.
According to Gowon, the late Tafawa Balewa, who was Nigeria’s Prime Minister, started the Kainji project which became functional during his military regime. He explained that the plan was to have additional plants at Kainji, Jebba, Shiroro and then, Gembu which was the Mambila project.
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However, his regime was toppled by the Brigadier Murtala Mohammed while he was abroad.
Gowon, who spoke with the Hausa service of Voice of America, VOA, monitored yesterday, queried:
“Why didn’t those who removed me from office continue from where we stopped?”
Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, had earlier regretted that Buhari’s administration did not inherit any cogent plan on the Mambila project from his predecessors.
“There were no records. Even the site for the project was not clearly known,” the minister said.
He, however, assured Nigerians that the project would be completed before the end of Buhari’s administration in 2023.
