$16b on power | Business Post Nigeria

By Dipo Olowookere President Muhammadu Buhari has hinted that his administration will investigate the $16 billion spent on power projects in the country by Mr Olusegun Obasanjo when he was President of the country from 1999 to 2007. Mr Buhari dropped this hint on Tuesday when Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Mr Ahmed Ali, led the Buhari Support Organization (BSO) to the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Mr Obasanjo has been very critical of President Buhari's government lately. Not too long ago, he went to the Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba group, seeking its support to oust the President from office in 2019. He had described this administration as a failure, urging Nigerians to vote him out of office next year. During his time as Nigeria's Head of State, Mr Obasanjo appointed Mr Buhari as his Petroleum Minister. The former President even supported Mr Buhari's emergence as President in 2015. However, both have fallen out lately and Mr Obasanjo has used every occasion to attack his style of government. Speaking today, President Buhari said despite the huge amount spent on electricity by the Mr Obasanjo administration, there was nothing to show for it. "Where is the electricity a former president claimed to have spent $16 billion on power projects in the country?" Mr Buhari asked. Recall that a group known as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had in 2016 asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Water Samuel Onnoghen, to immediately appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations of corruption in the spending of $16 billion on electricity by Mr Obasanjo's government. In 2008, the House of Representatives had described the $16 billion spent on power by Mr Obasanjo's government as colossal waste, blaming it on poor budget planning and a lack of proper oversight by relevant bodies.

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