Mambilla Project: No mobilisation fund paid to Sunrise – Ex-power minister insists

A former Minister of Power, Dr Olu Agunloye, has clarified that no mobilisation funds were ever paid to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company, the firm awarded the contract for the construction of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project. Dr Agunloye, who held the power portfolio between 2002 and 2003, made this clarification in a statement he […]

A former Minister of Power, Dr Olu Agunloye, has clarified that no mobilisation funds were ever paid to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company, the firm awarded the contract for the construction of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.

Dr Agunloye, who held the power portfolio between 2002 and 2003, made this clarification in a statement he signed, in response to an opinion article published by Daily Trust on April 15, 2025.

The $6 billion Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, a 3,050-megawatt facility located in Taraba State, has been stalled for decades due to persistent legal and administrative challenges.

If completed, the project is expected to generate about 4.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, making it the largest power infrastructure in Nigeria’s history.

In 2003, the federal government awarded the project to Sunrise under a Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) agreement.
However, the contract has been re-awarded under successive administrations and is currently the subject of a protracted legal dispute at the International Arbitration Court in Paris, France.

Former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari have recently appeared before the court to testify.

A Daily Trust columnist, Ilyasu Gadu, wrote  that “Sunrise was paid some mobilisation money but did not, for whatever reasons, execute the contract fully.”

Responding, Dr. Agunloye dismissed the allegation as incorrect, saying “This is wrong.”

“It is grossly misleading to claim that money, in whichever guise, was paid directly or indirectly to Sunrise Company for the Mambilla contract,” Agunloye said.

“Specifically, the 2003 contract was at no cost to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Sunrise Power and Transmission Company was to source private sector investment to construct, operate, and maintain the project over 35 years, recovering its investment and profit by selling electricity at tariffs predetermined by the government. Ownership of the project would eventually revert to the government.”

He added that while Sunrise was seeking foreign and local investors in 2003, the BOT contract was set aside by government officials and subsequently re-awarded multiple times.

“It is a matter of fact that even though Sunrise has not received any payment from the Federal Government of Nigeria to date, several billions of naira and millions of U.S. dollars have been spent, misappropriated, or stolen by officials overseeing the Mambilla project, particularly between 2015 and 2023.

“Some of these officials have been apprehended, others are under investigation, and a few remain at large with their loot,” he added.
Dr Agunloye also rejected the assertion that Sunrise Power placed caveat emptor on the project to assert ownership and prevent its re-award.

“This is derogatory and criminally false. In truth, the BOT contract on the Mambilla power project awarded to Sunrise and Company in 2003 was re-awarded under President Obasanjo in 2007.

“It was re-awarded in 2010 under President Yar’Adua, re-awarded in 2012 under President Goodluck Jonathan, and again re-awarded in 2017 under President Buhari by Minister Babatunde Fashola. There were no Caveat Emptor orders in force,” he said.