By Ade Imodoye
Contractors working for the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), has passed a vote of no confidence on the management of the federal government parastatal over executive recklessness culminating in contractual irregularities and poor deliveries.
Some of the contractors acting under the aegis of REA Contractors Frontiers (REA-CoF), condemned the management style of the present leadership, headed by Abba Abubakar Aliyu, who they accused of working in cahoots with the power minister, Adebayo Adelabu, to withhold fund meant to pay the contractors.
Aliyu was said to have been the man Friday of the new minister, Adelabu, having worked with ousted Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh to understand the management intricacies of the power sector
The alliance is said to be paying off for the duo of Adelabu and Aliyu while the contractors the agency is indebted to are in a limbo as their payments were withheld by the top hierarchies.
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) , had on July 11, 2024, arraigned Aliyu’s former boss and Power Minister in the last administration, Mamman Saleh, on a 12 -count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit money laundering to the tune of Thirty-Three Billion, Eight Hundred and Four Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty Thousand, Five Hundred and Three Naira, Seventy-Three Kobo (N33,804,830,503.73).
The case is still before Justice James Omotosho, of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja.
With this hindsight, the contractors who described the non payment of their dues as running at variance with the present government acclaimed goals of renewed hope, asked the Federal Government to step into their plight s in the wake of the lingering economic hardships.
The former leadership of the government agency, REA, headed by Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, was dissolved while the Aliyu led management was installed on March 7, 2024, by the present administration.
Feelers emerged that the current management of REA, which was expected to have hit the ground running, have not measured to expectations.
An inside source who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “there is a sort of cult gangsterism between the present management and the Minister of Power, Adelabu, who see the REA as a ‘pot of soup’ for their insatiable wants. ‘
His excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, appointed Aliyu, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of REA, alongside three other Executive Directors
Aliyu, was Acting. Managing Director/CEO, Ayoade Gboyega Executive Director, Corporate Services. Umar Abdullahi Umar, Executive Director, Technical Services and Doris Uboh, Executive Director, Rural Electrification Fund (REF).
They were assigned to rejig the agency to uptimum capacity while Olufemi Akinyelure takes over as Head of Project Management Unit.
The team was expected to provide guidance to the agency towards delivering on its mandate of providing electricity access to unserved and underserved areas across the country.
Aliyu previously served as the Head of the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) at the REA, overseeing the implementation of a $550 million facility from the World Bank ($350m) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), ($200m) for his former boss, Saleh.
Aliyu also served as General Manager at the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and as Senior Special Assistant to the former Minister of Power on Policy.
REA is the Implementing agency of the Federal Government, under the Federal Ministry of Power tasked with the electrification of unserved and underserved communities to catalyze economic growth and improve quality of life for Nigerians.
But the contractors are saying that working for REA to deliver its core mandate is harrowing and seemingly a invitation to intimidation and hunger.”
Some of the contractors said many of them have lost valuable properties to financial institutions and individuals when they could not meet up with agreements with debtors from where the money they used to execute contracts for REA was sourced.
REA was established under part IX, Sections 88- 89 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), 2005 and is currently implementing the Rural Electrification Fund (REF), Capital Projects, Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), Solar Power Naija (SPN), Energizing Education Programme (EEP), Energizing Economies Initiative (EEI), Energizing Agriculture Programme (EAP), Energy for All – Mass Rural Electrification and Research and Innovation Hub.
Others are: Africa Mini Grids Programme, Derisking Sustainable Off-Grid Lighting Solutions and the Korean Energy Project.
