The 141megawatt integrated Aba Power Project is a child of necessity. The desire of Aba
industrialists, including the small and medium
scale industries, and our desire to contribute our quota to increasing power supply in the nation converged 10 years ago. We realized that the best way to ensure that this city will quickly have reliable and affordable electricity was to build this off-grid project that serves the Aba metropolis. The then World Bank President, Mr Jim Wolfensohn, and the then Finance Minister who is the current Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, came and met the Aba Industrialists, including the Aba Ariaria Manufacturers (SMEs). At the meeting, the Ariaria manufacturers were asked
to identify their number one problem which if
addressed would significantly improve their
production; they unanimously said that it was
reliable electricity. This convergence of desire for reliable electricity was what led us to this historic Aba Integrated Power Project. At that time, our development partners from the IFC of the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (now known as FMFM) and myself wanted to find a business model for power development in Nigeria that is sustainable, can stand on its own, and can be easily replicated by various investors in other major cities in Nigeria. We recognized that the nation would not be able to afford sovereign guarantee for all of its power needs, we therefore developed a model of customized embedded generation that would not require sovereign guarantee. Consequently, we set about developing this integrated power project to satisfy the electricity needs of Aba metropolis at a time when the Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 was not yet enacted. The Federal Government in 2005 concessioned Aba metropolis to us; this was the only security of the investment in the project instead of the normal sovereign guarantee. We have met the terms of our concession agreement with the Federal Government by building this 141MW Power Plant with state of the art equipment from General Electric (GE) and rehabilitating the entire distribution network in Aba. In addition to the power plant, we have built over 105 kms of 33kV overhead lines within the Aba metropolis. The steel tubular poles used to build the 33kV line infrastructure are unlike any other in
Nigeria. We have also built over 40km of new 11kV lines in Aba. We have completed 5 new substations consisting of the power plant’s 3x60MVAs substation; four (4) brand new 2x15MVA substations in various parts of Aba town. In addition, we have refurbished the only three existing PHCN substations which were dilapidated, by building three brand new control buildings with outdoor substation gantries within the premises of the existing PHCN substations. To ensure the reliability of gas supply, we built a 27km gas pipeline from Imo River to the power plant and built the gas infrastructure to support the supply of reliable gas to the facility. To date, we
have invested over $500million or in today’s money over N100 billion in this project. This project is virtually completed. The power plant, various substations and 33kV lines have been energised and fuel is available for this project. The remaining interconnection work on the distribution network within the premises of the existing PHCN substations and the 11kv lines should take less than two months. This was the remaining work that was being done by our contractors before the entire Enugu Electricity Distribution Company was handed over to another
party by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) without excising Aba from the sale. This action was in spite of our valid concession agreement and assurances by President Goodluck Jonathan that the agreement is sacrosanct. Operators of EEDC stopped our work and chased away contractors from the substations, thereby preventing Aba people from having uninterrupted and quality electricity. The BPE, in effect, double-sold Aba metropolis (which includes Aba and Ariaria Electricity Business Districts) to our company and to Interstate Electrics. This is in spite of the very fact that the agreement we have with the FGN clearly states that
whenever there is privatization, our company has first right to purchase the facility in Aba hence our heavy investment in this project. Investors in Aba IPP have developed a world class electricity infrastructure with the belief that their investment is safe in Nigeria. We have made all effort to get the BPE to correct what (for choice of words) may be called an “error”. So far, they have not yielded to doing the correct thing. Rather, they have sought to justify this error and have continued to politicise the situation unnecessarily, thereby playing with the investment of this magnitude by people who have the interest of our country and the people of Aba at heart. Investors in the Aba IPP led by my humble self answered the call of our beloved country to come home and be part of the development of our dear nation. The investors and stakeholders include members of the Aba Business Community, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and our banks, especially Diamond Bank. This travesty has been very cruel to all of us. People in the investment community continue to wonder if this can happen to Nigerian investors with a well- structured agreement, how then can they be sure that their investments and agreements will not be breached in the future? This action by the government has certainly demoralised and discouraged potential investors. The only instrument for doing business in developing and developed nations across the globe is an agreement, which must be respected and held sacrosanct by all parties. All the various Committees set up to look into this issue have come up with the same answer: that our agreement should be respected by the Federal Government and that Aba Power should be offered the Aba and Ariaria Electricity Business Districts as enshrined in the agreement. I was assured by the outgoing Vice President that the Technical committee of National Council on Privatization (NCP) and the NCP Legal Committee have made the same recommendation. However the painful fact is that this critical issue has been left festering since November 2013. It costs our company $3.5m (Three and a half million US dollars) in bank interest charges alone; plus more than N30 million for insurance coverage; other operational expenses every single month to carry a project that is not yielding any revenue due to the deliberate, hostile and crippling action of Enugu DisCo and the BPE over 15 months ago! So far about 8 committees, including committees of
the NCP, NERC, and Ministry of Power amongst others have investigated this matter and come up with the same recommendation. There is no more need for another committee; all that it requires is your decision and firm action that will ensure the full implementation of their recommendation to sell Aba metropolis to Aba Power. We are therefore pleading with the authorities to take a decisive action today and rescue our company and the people of Aba from the shackles of deliberate man-made mischief. We also plead with you to ask Enugu DisCo (EEDC) to immediately allow our contractors to complete the interconnection works that will allow Aba to receive this power. Please give the people of Aba an opportunity to get the intended benefit of this project, which is absolute reliable electricity. It is unfortunate that the powerful economic and political saboteurs within the system have denied your administration the golden opportunity of using the Aba metropolis electricity ring-fence as a shining example of your power reform agenda. Nevertheless, we remain fully committed to ensuring that this project will be completed as soon as possible for the benefit of Aba Business Community and the Nigerian people.
-Prof Nnaji, NNOM, OFR, the immediate past Minister of Power and one of the world’s top engineers, is Chairman of Geometric Power Ltd.

www.thisdaylive.com/articles/travails-of-aba-power-project/206974/
lalasticlala seun and ishilove

Barth Nnaji was one of the performing ministers in Jonathan's administration. Nnaji had problem with the administration when what belongs to his Distribution Company (Aba IPP) was handed over to another company in which the current first lady owns 38% of the company. When Nnaji tried to fight the injustice, he was summarily removed as minister.

Too long to read

Lets blame the Yorubas again.

Scatterboss:
Lets blame the Yorubas again.

Are you an attention seeker or what?

[s]

sCun:

Are you an attention seeker or what?

[/s]

Question.

Scatterboss:
Lets blame the Yorubas again.

tribal f00l

Gej shut himself by not being bold to stop Emeka Offor, that Buhari won this election will be opportunity revise the disco sold to Emeka and do rebidding or possibly separate Aba from Enugu disco so that Aba will thrive economically.

My dear as I day read I just sleep off. Make Una tell me the end when I wake

If there was indeed an agreement, why not get the courts to enforce it?

Scatterboss:
Lets blame the Yorubas again.

Lol

I hate Gej nonchalant attitude on dis. Like hw can u sabotage ur people.

Reserved

The gej govt sabotaged itself through greed and the evil Politics of its principal actors.

If truly patience had a hand in this fiasco, then too bad what greed of one woman has cost the commercial city of Aba.

sCun:
If there was indeed an agreement, why not get the courts to enforce it?

Don't worry, GMB will correct this injustice after his swearing in. The injustice and corruption that characterised the privatisation process and how GEJ quickly threw a performing Berth Nnaji under the bus is part of the reason why some us voted against him.

This is one of the reasons why the power privatisation process needs to be revisited.

Documents show how the BPE and the Vice President Namadi Sambo-led NCP violated privatisation guidelines to hand over Enugu Disco to Emeka Offor’s Interstate Electric.
The technical committee of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) has revealed how Vice President, Namadi Sambo, and the Director General, Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Dikki, waived bid guidelines and unilaterally awarded the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (Enugu DISCO) to businessman, Emeka Offor.
Mr. Offor, who is the Chairman of Chrome Group, a company with tentacles in oil and gas services, power, logistics and telecommunications sectors, was the promoter of Interstate Electric Limited, one of the firms that bided for the 15 Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies slated for privatization by the Federal Government.
Interstate emerged the preferred bidder for the Enugu Electricity DISCO at the bids opening exercise on August 29, 2013, with Eastern Electric Company the reserve bidder.
Eastern Electric is sponsored by a consortium of investors, including Geometric Power Limited, led by the former Minister of Power, Bart Nnaji; the five South Eastern state governments; Nestoil, a major indigenous upstream industry operator; Aba Power Limited, and founding Chairman of Diamond Bank, Pascal Dozie,.
Although Interstate Electric initially paid the 25 per cent of its bid offer price (about $12million), the balance of 75 per cent (about $95.4million) was expected to be paid on or before the August 21, 2013 deadline, failure of which it would forfeited its place to the reserve bidder in line with the stipulated guidelines spelt out in the request for proposal (RFP) document.
But the report of the technical committee of the NCP dated September 10, 2013 revealed that Interstate Electric was one of the three companies that failed to meet the August 21, 2013 deadline for the payment of the balance of 75 per cent bid prices.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/145607-vp-sambo-bpe-dg-unilaterally-awarded-enugu-disco-emeka-offor.html

FastShipping:
Barth Nnaji was one of the performing ministers in Jonathan's administration. Nnaji had problem with the administration when what belongs to his Distribution Company (Aba IPP) was handed over to another company in which the current first lady owns 38% of the company. When Nnaji tried to fight the injustice, he was summarily removed as minister.

Since he was sacked, the state of the electricity has gone from bad to worse.

I wonder why Jonathan held on to wicked and unperforming ministers and sacked the good and working ones with ease.

sCun:
If there was indeed an agreement, why not get the courts to enforce it?

Court to enforce what? This is Nigeria where the powerful supercides court.

Prof Barth Nnaji, the best Minister of Power

Thank God that no nonsense man has come(Buhari) with immediate effect all those rubbish will stop

Sad Goverment beareucracy and ineptness at its peak. What will it cost the Bpe to do the right thing and allow prof Nnaji and his friends to excercise their first buy option and peharp's other aspiring investor's might have confidence in the power sector reforms.

Prof Barth is a good man. A robotics specialist that even worked for NASA. But he made s fatal flaw hubris in that his power plant. Aside the political terrain that is against him, SPDC is yet to deliver gas to him from the Owaza station. Last I recall, not only do Shell not have gas to give, they've been insistent on some modification works that's costing the good Prof some billions of naira with no end in sight.

All he could've done them was to tie-in to the NGC station at Owaza. I hope they fire up soon and he thinks outside the box.

GEJ did a great disservice to this nation by sacking this man.

LasgidyPort:
GEJ did a great disservice to this nation by sacking this man.

You guys seem to be ignoring the reason why he was asked to resign. He had and still has private interests in the power sector, so for the interest of fairness and transparency, it didn't seem right for him to oversee the privatisation process.

sCun:
If there was indeed an agreement, why not get the courts to enforce it?

You seem to have forgotten how long court cases last in this country. Or will you help him pay his operating costs and interest charges (never mind legal fees) for the period?

sCun:

Are you an attention seeker or what?

Is he lying or did you not vote overwhelmingly for gej and shepopo. Damn you guys don't know how democracy works.

There appears to be more to this whole thing.

This is the same Emeka Offor that used his connection with Atiku to suck Anambra State dry during the time of Mbadinuju. The Prof has to be very careful because the same Atiku may likely clinch the position of Chairman of BOT under APC and help Offor and Co. to frustrate Prof. This is still Nigeria.

sCun:

Are you an attention seeker or what?

A very good morning to boss, I'm sorry to have disturbed you,but you have to help me now.

The Mr nairaland contest is on,as a matter of fact,today is going to be the semi finals and I need you to help me vote Falconey. I am writing you because I am trusting You.

the link to the voting thread is

https://www.nairaland.com/3265483/mr-nairaland-contest-2016-semi-final

the voting is on NOW sir and it closes at 6pm

the voting format is "" I vote falconey Cc; NLjega"


Thanks so much Boss.

Aba Power Project: Finally a solution

Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, displayed uncanny leadership when on Thursday, March 31, 2016, he took the nation by surprise by getting top representatives of the two feuding parties in the provision of electric supply to the industrial city of Aba in Abia State, Geometric Power Limited and Interstate Electrics, to sign an agreement ending their almost three-year internecine war. Fashola got Interstate Electrics to pull out of Aba city and its environs, in accordance with the Federal Government’s agreement with Geometric Power since 2005 and revised the following year for the latter to build a power station in Aba and supply power to the area. Geometric Power accepted to compensate Interstate Electrics.

The purported confusion over the right firm to supply power to Aba, often regarded as the capital of Nigeria’s indigenous technology, arose when the Goodluck Jonathan government handed over the two business units owned by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in the city to Interstate Electrics on November 1, 2013, as part of the geographical area covered by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in the wake of the privatisation of the PHCN assets almost three years ago. The handover flabbergasted many because the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) displayed documents and published notices to prospective buyers of EEDC stating categorically that the two business units in Aba had been exercised out of the EEDC coverage area based on the 2005/6 Federal Government’s agreement with Geometric Power Ltd. Geometric Power also placed a caveat emptor notice in national newspapers.

The resolution of the Aba electricity issue by Fashola who assumed office only last November as the minister in-charge of power becomes more significant against the background that the Jonathan government did set up as many as eight committees on the matter. Each of them stated in clear terms that Geometric Power should not be encumbered in the Aba project because its 2005/6 agreement with the Federal Government and its agencies are clear in making it the legitimate electricity supplier to the area. One of the committees was headed by Yunus Ustaz, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Sambo’s personal lawyer and friend. Clearly, Ustaz is a man imbued with moral principles. But the Jonathan’s government was determined to nail Nnaji and his firm to the cross by all means possible even if it meant the failure of the power sector which it made the number one issue in its campaign manifesto in the 2011 presidential vote. So, the government sat on the Ustaz committee report and seven others.


While campaigning for reelection in Abia State on March 24, 2015, Jonathan was practically forced to visit the 141Megawatt Aba Power Project by the then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as the then Anambra State governor, Peter Obi. Jonathan then promised to resolve the problem, stating pointedly that “it is a human error”. All the news media ran the presidential declaration prominently. As my phones buzzed ceaselessly by numerous Nigerians who were excited at the prospect of Aba becoming the model of how the electricity sector should be run in Nigeria, I informed the callers that it was not going to happen.
By getting the two parties in the Aba electric power supply controversy to shift ground and make reasonable concessions, Fashola has exhibited foresight, dynamism and strong leadership. Aba will in the next few months become the first city in West Africa to enjoy quality and uninterrupted power supply for decades. The facilities already put in place by Geometric Power are world class. The tubular poles, which are buried 10 metres into the soil and are 10metres above the ground, can be found in only advanced places like Japan where they are meant to withstand natural disasters like earthquakes. The company has, in addition, built a 27-kilometre natural gas pipeline from the oil-producing Owazi community in Ukwa West Local Government Area in Abia State to Osisioma on the outskirts of Aba where the plant is located. It has also built four brand new substations and refurbished three others inherited from the PHCN. Needless to add, all the poor distribution cables from the PHCN have long been replaced.

With the resolution of the dispute over electric supply to Aba, there is renewed optimism in the Southeast that with Aba about to regain its glory as the industrial hub of the zone, socioeconomic life in the area will change automatically. After all, poor electricity has consistently been identified as the most paralyzing of all problems which have over the decades been facing businesses in the area. When the then World Bank president, James Wolfensohn, visited Aba in 2004 and asked the business community to identify its greatest challenges, each person responded “Electricity! Electricity! Electricity!”. It was actually this encounter which led Okonjo-Iweala as Obasanjo’s finance minister to plead with Nnaji, who had already successfully built the 22Megawatt Emergency Power facility in Abuja in 2001-3, to consider building a bigger station in Aba with the sole purpose of helping to unleash the tremendous creative energy of Aba which is sometimes called the Japan of Africa on account of the people’s manufacturing ingenuity.


While it is true that the commissioning of the Aba Power Project will mark a new stage in Southeast economic development, the project’s takeoff will have a huge impact on the whole nation. It will stem the exodus of people to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, thereby controlling the overpopulation of these cities. It will also relieve the nation of the burden of having to worry about power supply to Aba, as power previously transmitted to Aba will now be given to other parts of the country. What is more, Geometric will send to the national grid any quantum which Aba is unable to absorb, thereby contributing significantly to power availability nationwide. And as already adumbrated in this article, Aba will be a model in the management of the electricity supply industry.
It is truly a pity that the Jonathan government made a mess of a boiled egg. As for Minister Fashola, history will record him as one of the most far-sighted Nigerian leaders, courageous, detribalized and driven by an acute sense of the common good. He is a minister to watch.

• Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

http://guardian.ng/opinion/aba-power-project-finally-a-solution/

Yet some of you ignorant bigoted lot will call Fashola minister of darkness