The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating Nigeria’s power sector reforms and expenditure between 2007 and 2024 has summoned the Minister of Water Resources, heads of key water management agencies and signatories to the 2005 concession agreement for the 40 MW Dadin-Kowa hydropower project.
The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Ibrahim Almustapha Aliyu, issued the order on Wednesday, after a presentation by Mabon Generating Company, concessionaire of the Dadin-Kowa Hydroelectric Power Plant, revealed gaps, delays and inconsistencies in implementation that lawmakers described as unacceptable, during a hearing at the National Assembly.
The Chairman of the Committee directed the committee secretariat to summon the Minister together with the Managing Director of the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority; the Managing Director of the Hadejia-Jama’are River Basin Development Authority; the Executive Director of the Nigerian Integrated Water Resources Management Commission; the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICCR) and the individual signatories of both the original concession and the subsequent addendum.
The affected officials are expected to appear before the committee on December 4, 2025.
The Committee Chairman revealed that the directive responded to the need of all parties involved in the 2005 build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement, following revelations that almost 20 years after the 25-year concession, the project had suffered from prolonged delays, additions, approval bottlenecks and unclear responsibilities among government agencies.
He noted that although Mabon Generating Company had signed the agreement after inspecting the facility and declaring it suitable for the planned generation capacity of 40 MW, the company later cited challenges and bottlenecks that forced an addendum to the terms of the original concession.
According to him, “from 2005 to date it has been 20 years. An agreement was signed after confirming that the facilities were fit for purpose. Now, halfway through, you suddenly realize that there are challenges,” Aliyu said, questioning the due diligence carried out by both the company and the supervisory authorities.
He noted that the situation had taken on “a multifaceted dimension,” with serious concerns about whether government officials met their obligations and whether taxpayers were sufficiently protected in the long-term agreement.
The committee also requested the presentation of the report of the evaluation committee that reviewed the initial award and recommended an addendum, as well as all documents related to performance evaluation, generation production, gaps and payment issues.
Mabon Generating Company said it has supplied more than 700 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to the national grid since 2021 and has not received any direct grants or loans from the Federal Government since the project’s inception in 2005.
The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Umar Shehu Hashidu, representing the Managing Director/CEO, said Mabon remains fully committed to cooperating with the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee Investigating Nigeria’s Power Sector, given the importance of reliable energy to national development.
Hashidu said the company had submitted all requested documents, including the original 2005 concession agreement, the 2015 addendum and all relevant regulatory approvals.
The Dadin Kowa project operates under a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model, which grants Marbon rights to develop and operate the hydroelectric facility before ultimately returning it to the Federal Government.
Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, said the ongoing Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) is designed to eliminate Nigeria’s seven million meter deficit and drastically reduce power sector losses as part of President Bola Tinubu’s effort to stabilize power supply across the country.
Representing the Director of the Presidential Metering Initiative, Obafemi Sotebo, he said the administration was committed to ending estimated billing, improving revenue assurance and building a national ecosystem of smart meters that can be audited remotely.
The SA said the PMI was established after a sector-wide diagnostic revealed that of Nigeria’s more than 13 million electricity customers, at least seven million were unmetered or using outdated analogue meters, a gap it described as the basis for the industry’s high technical, commercial and collection (ATC&C) losses.
According to her, closing the measurement gap could reduce losses from the current 45-50 percent to between 12 and 15 percent, which she described as an acceptable global range.
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