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By Gloria Ikibah

The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee probing Nigeria’s power sector reforms and expenditure between 2007 and 2024 has ordered the Minister of Water Resources, major water management agencies and the original signatories to the 2005 concession agreement to appear before it on 4 December 2025.

The summons centres on the stalled 40MW Dadin-Kowa hydropower project, which has been plagued by delays and administrative contradictions for nearly two decades.

The directive came after lawmakers reviewed a presentation by Mabon Generating Company, the concessionaire responsible for operating the plant.

The submission highlighted a series of gaps and inconsistencies that members of the committee described as deeply troubling.

Committee Chairman, Rep. Ibrahim Almustapha Aliyu instructed the secretariat to formally summon the Minister of Water Resources; the Managing Directors of both the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority and the Hadejia–Jama’are River Basin Development Authority; the head of the Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission; the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission; and all individuals who signed the original concession and its addendum.

The Chairman explained that the committee had no choice but to involve every party to the 2005 build–operate–and–transfer agreement, noting that the 25-year concession had been bogged down by persistent delays, repeated amendments, conflicting approvals and unclear lines of responsibility among government bodies.

He added that Mabon Generating Company had initially accepted the concession after inspecting the facility and judging it capable of delivering the planned 40MW output, but later raised concerns that triggered the renegotiation of key terms.

He questioned the due diligence conducted by the company and supervising authorities, and said: “From 2005 to date, 20 years have gone. You entered into an agreement after confirming the facility was fit. Now, midway, you suddenly realise there are challenges”.

The committee chairman expressed concern that the matter had grown increasingly complex, raising questions about whether the agencies involved had met their obligations and whether the long-term concession had adequately safeguarded public funds.

Lawmakers requested for the full report of the committee that reviewed the original agreement and advised the addition of new terms, along with all documents covering performance reviews, power generation figures, identified shortcomings and financial issues. They insisted that all parties appear with the appraisal report that informed the revised concession.

Mabon Generating Company stated that it has delivered more than 700 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to the national grid since 2021 and has not received any federal grants or direct loans since the project began in 2005.

Representing the Managing Director, the Chief Operating Officer, Umar Shehu Hashidu, explained that Mabon had already provided the committee with all requested records, including the 2005 agreement, the 2015 addendum and supporting regulatory approvals. The plant operates on a build–operate–and–transfer basis, allowing the company to run the hydropower facility before transferring ownership back to the government at the end of the concession period.

The Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, outlined how the Presidential Metering Initiative is intended to close Nigeria’s longstanding gap of seven million unmetered households and reduce the losses that have weakened the electricity market.

Speaking through the initiative’s Director, Obafemi Sotebo, the Special Adviser said the administration is determined to phase out estimated billing, improve revenue protection and establish a nationwide system of remotely auditable smart meters.

The initiative followed a comprehensive review that showed that out of more than 13 million electricity consumers across the country, at least seven million were either unmetered or reliant on outdated analogue devices. This shortfall was identified as a major driver of the sector’s high technical, commercial and collection losses.

According to the Special Adviser’s office, bridging the metering gap has the potential to reduce these losses from their current level of around 45 to 50 per cent to a more internationally acceptable range of between 12 and 15 per cent.