Vice President Kashim Shettima on Monday inaugurated the 181-megawatt Geometric Power plant in the Osisioma Industrial Layout of Aba in Abia State.
The 188-MW thermal plant alongside Aba Power Ltd will take electricity from the new plant and supply to nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State.
Being the biggest investment in the Southeast, Geometric Power spent $800 million dollars on its integrated power project, which includes building a 27-kilometre natural gas pipeline from Owaza in Ukwa west LGA in Abia State to the Osisioma Industrial Layout in Aba.
The inauguration of the historic project took place 20 years after it was initiated, and nine years after its completion but jinxed following a legal battle with the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, which was recently resolved.
Speaking at the colorful event that attracted the presence of eminent personalities from across South East, and the country, the Vice President said the project was a major milestone in the efforts of Nigeria towards achieving stable power supply.
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He commended the owner of the multi million dollar power project and former Minister for Power, Professor Bart Nnaji for conceptualising the great project, and patiently waiting for its coming on stream.
The Vice President commended the resilience of the former Minister in enduring the years of delays and setbacks to his lofty dream.
He sympathised with him over the frustrations he was put through by some interested party.
“About two weeks ago when I met Professor Nnaji I was curious to ask him how old he was. He told me that he was 67 years, and I was amazed. He looks 80 years. The tears and wears, and frustrations of 20 years have taken a great toll on him. But thank God, we are here to commission this game-changing project.”
The Vice President said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Nigeria are very proud of Professor Nnaji for the uncommon feat.
The Vice President who had earlier inaugurated three roads in Aba, also commended Governor Alex Otti for his giant strides especially in infrastructural development.
“Today in Aba, I saw testimony to good leadership. I saw the outpouring of emotion and support for Alex Otti. Posterity will be very kind to him”.
Speaking earlier, Professor Nnaji said the project which started 20 years ago, was a child of necessity borne out of the desire of Aba manufacturers to have a stable and affordable electricity.
He said that when the then President of World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, visited Aba in the company of the then Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, manufacturers in Ariaria International market were asked to identify their key challenge, and they said lack of reliable power supply.
‘‘This desire for reliable electricity is what led us to the historic Aba Integrated Power project”.
Professor Nnaji thanked all the financial institutions that supported the project with credit facilities as well as the Federal and Abia State Government in making the project s success.
The former Minister of Power, assured that if Government would guarantee a steady gas supply to the gas turbine of the power plant, Aba and its environs would have steady power supply.
“Now that this project is completed and being commissioned, the test of whether Nigeria can have reliable electricity is actually here. The test is about gas supply. We can guarantee that if we have reliable gas supply, we will provide reliable electricity to Aba metropolis.
”The onus is now on the government to demonstrate that reliable supply of power is possible in Nigeria by ensuring that this project gets reliable gas supply”.
In her brief virtual remarks, the Director General of World Trade Organization, WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the actualisation of the project would help fast track economic development in Aba.
She said Nigeria should not have households and industries struggling for reliable power supply.
Applauding Professor Nnaji for his ingenuity and resilience, the WTO boss, appealed to State Governors to provide the enabling environment to attract investors in their states.
In his speech entitled: ”The Power of Dream,” Governor Otti described the inauguration of the power plant as a new dawn in the generation and distribution of electricity in the state .
He expressed gratitude to the President for the support he has been giving to his administration since he assumed office and assured the people of the State that his administration is just starting, adding that he would ensure he fulfils his promises to them.
Otti recalled ‘‘As a leader in the private sector many years ago, and now as the Governor of the State, I consider the Geometric Integrated Power Project to be very special and dear to my heart because of the immense potential it holds for the economic and social rejuvenation of Aba as a preferred destination for enterprise growth, family life and leisure.
‘‘Ladies and gentlemen, permit me to share my story with Geometric. In 2010, Prof. Barth Nnaji came to see me in First Bank, Lagos, where I served as an Executive Director. He needed the support of the bank to complete the project, the funding of which had been unfortunately stopped two years before, by the bank that originally started the project. This bank happened to be Diamond Bank. After securing approval for an $85m facility from First Bank of Nigeria, Geometric Power could not draw on the facility as it had become public knowledge that I was resuming as the Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, shortly.
‘‘As I resumed in Diamond on March 1, 2011, I put together a team that saw to the restructuring of the challenged facility and resumed funding of the project to completion. By the time I left Diamond towards the end of 2014, the three General Electric turbines and the 27km gas pipeline were in place. A combination of factors including ownership tussle over the Aba ring fence, sale of the oil block where the feed gas was going to come from to a new investor, and additional funding challenges conspired to delay project delivery for close to 10 years.
‘‘On assumption of office May 29, 2023, my team and I quickly folded our sleeves and started working with Geometric to resolve the gas supply problem by directly interfacing with top management of NNPC and today we have gas flowing to the turbines. Just as recorded in Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God”. I’m therefore pleased that 14 years down the line, God arranged everything such that the final resolution of all the issues and the firing of the turbines would happen when He had handed over the mantle of stewardship to me. May His name be glorified!
I consider it appropriate to acknowledge the efforts of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, who gave the initial waivers to Geometric, thereby derisking the transaction. I thank specifically, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, CFR, who was the Chairman of Diamond Bank at the time, and who played a significant role in the resolution of the ownership tussle of the ring fence tussle. I cannot fail to recognise Prof. Okey Oramah, who got Afreximbank, his bank, to support the project with the required funding to get to the last mile. Many thanks to Engr. Mele Kyari, the GMD of NNPC, who God used to solve the gas problem.
‘‘This city is very pivotal to the economic trajectory of Nigeria and the West Africa region, and I knew for a fact that if we got the fundamentals right, Aba would not just be a city that makes millionaires of dreamers, it would become, a land of solutions to the many socio-economic problems that assail us – including worrisome level of youth unemployment and pervasive poverty.
‘‘My faith in Aba as an economic powerhouse meant that when I first saw the proposal for the Geometric Integrated Power Plant, I knew I had to be involved immediately because if just 50% of what had been proposed could be achieved, the industrial output from this great city and its environs would triple and millions of new jobs would be created directly and indirectly in the short to medium term.
“Certainly, the success of this power project will not just validate my unyielding belief in Aba but would send a clear signal to local and international investors that Aba is open for business.
“Whatever your line of business, manufacturing, Agro-processing, metal fabrication, woodworks, ICT, fashion, services, or retail, whatever be it, Aba is waiting to embrace you warmly because in addition to steady improvements in urban infrastructure, especially roads as we have witnessed since mid-2023, Aba residents and businesses will now enjoy reliable power supply all year round, thanks to Geometric Power.”
Otti urged Aba residents to promptly pay their electricity bills and not to engage in any act capable of undermining the economic interest of the company.
“The onus is now on us to pay our electricity bills as and when due. There must be no attempt to sabotage the revenue flow to the company because projects like this require steady cash flow for effective operations — including payment for gas supplies.
“Community leaders must also work closely with security agents to guard against any form of vandalisation of critical supply or distribution infrastructure either for reasons of criminality or wilful sabotage. “
The Governor also urged the Geometric Power Plant not to exploits electricity consumers nor take undue advantage of its power of monopoly in the area.
“On its own part, the business division of Geometric Power must consistently guard against any form of customer extortion, under whatever guise. I am glad to learn that the company had recently embarked on mass metering of households and business premises. It is my wish that the initiative is sustained until every customer gets a meter to gauge and manage their electricity consumption.
“Standard practice with respect to customer protection as spelt out in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Customer Protection Regulations, 2023, must apply across service frontiers — customer disconnection, meter reading, billing, management and resolution of complaints. It must be borne in mind at all times that the customer is king, especially in these economically challenging times.
“Your position as a monopoly within your operational area would in the medium to long term either become a door opener to other equally strategic markets, or a burden that would hurt the company’s capacity to expand to new territories. The choice is yours to make but I am of the view that if you serve Aba right through quality service delivery, wallet-friendly billing and responsiveness to customer complaints, the sky will simply be your starting point.”
Minister for Power, Adeboye Adelabu, also commended Professor Nnaji for providing that Nigeria could provide local solution to its power challenge.
He said that what Nnaji did could only be found in few cities in the world, while urging residents to support the ingenuity by paying their electricity bills regularly.
Some of the dignitaries at the inauguration include: former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha; the Obi of Onitsha, HRM Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe; the Chairman, Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers, HRM Eze Linus Nto; and his Enugu State Igwe Lawrence Agubuzo.
Others were the wife of the late Biafra warlord Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu; the President of AFREXIM Bank, Professor Okey Oramah; the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mele Kyari; and the son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Seyi Obasanjo.
