About 20 Years ago, Prof Barth Nnaji, a Jonathan-era Minister of Power in Nigeria, plunged headlong into the task of setting up a gas-fired Power Plant in Aba, apparently oblivious of, or underestimating the reach of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Federal Exclusive Legislative List of the Death-Dispensing 1999 Constitution.
The gas to power the Plant was to come from nearby oilfield Owaza, Abia State which was about 15 minutes derive from the Osisioma, Aba Location of the Power Plant.
Aba had been in great darkness and in dire need of Electricity since the decades-long Shutdown of the Oji-River Power Plant by the Federal Government of Nigeria since Electricity Generation and Transmission went into the Exclusive List under the 1979 Constitution.
Everything seemed perfect; then Nigeria began to happen to the Project.
First, the system tried to criminalize Barth Nnaji and he was hauled into EFCC detention for all manners of spurious claims for things that happened during his tenure as Minister of Power.
They pinned some conflict-of-interest malfeasance on him as erstwhile Minister of Power; they frustrated every effort to pipe gas to the Power Plant that had been completed since over 10 years.
But for the current raging Union Dispute and the attempt by a floundering illicit Federal Government to placate the East and douse the tension that accompanied the 2023 Presidential Electoral Robbery, the 1967 Alliance, masquerading as “Federal Government” would have continued their blockade of Gas to the Geometric Power Plant in Aba. There were also issues of Transmission Infrastructure which is also locked in on the Exclusive List.
The Federal Government’s capacity to frustrate this and other Developmental and Infrastructural Projects, flows from the 68-Item Federal Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution.
Even with the Commissioning of the Power Plant, the fact that Gas remains on the Exclusive List, leaves the Power Plant at the mercy of Abuja as long as the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria remains in place.
Worse still, the prospects of expansion to cover more cities and locations beyond Aba and Abia will suffer from the limitations imposed by Buhari’s bogus Constitution Amendments that pretend to have opened up Electricity Generation and Transmission since the Amendments only allowed the States to Generate and Transmit within their State Geographical Boundaries.
Many of the characters that gathered in Aba to take credit for the operationalization and commissioning into Production, of the Geometric Power Plant, including the Representatives of the Federal Government were involved in the many decades of sabotaging and frustrating that Project; even if not directly, the fact that they still cling tenaciously to the Unworkable Unitary Constitutional Order for Nigeria, render them guilty by conduct and association, as Electricity remains detained from Nigerians, just as Refineries, Security and Major Infrastructure.
While every commendation to Barth Nnaji and whoever facilitated the realization of the Electricity Project would be in order, the Euphoria now trailing the take-off of that Project is grossly misleading as some, including those who cling to the debilitating Unitary Constitution of Nigeria are creating the impression that gradually, we will get to where the issues of infrastructure would be resolved across Nigeria. This is falsehood and deceit.
The urgency of the need to Dismantle the Anti-Progress, Anti-Development Unitary Constitution of Nigeria has not abated.
Geometric was a long-drawn accident that ended on a happy note. Let us get back to addressing Nigeria’s Sovereignty Question and the Union Dispute that has arisen therefrom, especially the untenable Unitary Structure of Nigeria and the enshackling 68-Item Federal Exclusive Legislative List of the Fraudulent 1999 Constitution.
The world was a very different place when Geometric Power first agreed with the Federal Government in 2005 to generate and distribute power in Eastern Nigeria’s industrial hub of Aba.
For instance, Olusegun Obasanjo was Nigeria’s president at the time, a position he would hold for another two years until 2007.
Alex Otti, the current governor of Abia State, was an executive director, commercial banking at First Bank and won’t assume his role as managing director and CEO of Diamond Bank, one of the major financiers of the Aba Power project, until 2011, six years later.
Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s vice president, who inaugurated the plant on Monday, was the manager of Zenith Bank’s Maiduguri branch.
It would, however, take nearly two decades for Geometric to finally get a shot at fulfilling its promise to provide 24-hour power supply to the city of Aba after it turned on the first of its four power-generating turbines for the first time on Sunday, February 25, 2024.
The transformative Aba Integrated Power Plant, Nigeria’s first, may now be up and running, with residents of the city jubilating over the impact it would have on the economy, but the private greed and government ineptitude that held it back for so long may forever cast a dark cloud over private investments in the power sector of Africa’s most populous country.
Geometric Power, owned by a professor of engineering and former minister of power, Barth Nnaji, had been prevented from keeping its promise of lighting up Aba after vested interests, crony capitalists, an inept bureaucracy putting up barriers to doing business and murky dealings traceable to the very top of Nigeria’s political class combined to delay the 181-megawatt power plant.
The plot to stop Geometric was at the time enabled by a hapless president, a vice president captured by vested interests and a defanged Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
Also playing a starring role in grounding the Aba power project was the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), where conflicting interests had led to deceit, and a private sector entity – Interstate Electrics, owners of Enugu Disco, whose intent was essentially to kill Geometric.
It was a tale with few heroes but lots of villains who conspired to keep the city of 2.5 million people perpetually in the dark.
Emeka Offor, the chairman of Chrome Group and promoter of Interstate Electrics Limited, who was a close friend of Namadi Sambo, Nigeria’s Vice President at the time, was said to have frustrated the operation of the power plant primed to deliver uninterrupted power supply to Aba, a shoe and garment hub in Africa.
The sheer misanthropy that accompanies Nigeria’s version of barefaced political brigandage and patronage has left households and industries in entrepreneurial Aba, the “Japan of Africa,” trapped under increasing blackouts.
In 2000, the combined turnover of the shoe and garment industry of Aba, the third-largest commercial city in Nigeria, was $200 million.
Offor, who was blocking the project, had Pius Anyim, secretary to the government of the federation, in his pocket, while Sam Amadi, the chairman and CEO of NERC, was beholden to Anyim.
Benjamin Dikki, director-general of the BPE, and Mohammed Bello Adoke, attorney-general, were also marionettes of the vice president.
Together, they managed to pull the wool over the eyes of former President Goodluck Jonathan, keeping him out of the loop with spurious procedural and legal issues.
Their delay tactics slowed down the take-off of a project financed by a consortium of American investors, local and international banks, as well as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private-sector arm.
In 2001, after the successful execution of the 22 megawatts (MW) emergency power station in Abuja to serve a dedicated distribution network within the Federal Capital Territory, Nnaji, founder of Geometric, was inspired to initiate the Aba Integrated Power Project, a distribution project with an embedded generation company.
In 2004, Geometric Power Limited signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Government to build a power plant in Aba, and a year later, in April 2005, Geometric signed the Aba concession agreement, also with the Federal Government, which gave it the right to distribute power to Aba.
The government, NEPA, and APL executed a lease agreement on April 28, 2005, for the distribution of power to the ring-fenced residential and commercial consumers at Aba.
By the terms of the agreement, NEPA assigned its right to distribute electric power on the ring-fenced island of Owerrinta, Osisioma, Ogbor Hill, Factory Road, and Port Harcourt Road in Aba, and also leased its distribution facilities within the contract area.
Despite the huge promise it held not only for Aba but for a country where stable power was elusive and officials were scouring for templates to keep the lights on across the country, it appeared as though Geometric Power would never light up Aba as the politically-influential Emeka Offor stood in the way.
Geometric was licenced in 2005 to deliver power supply to Aba and Ariaria business units, just two out of 18 business units in the Enugu Disco licence areas.
However, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) sold EEDC to Emeka Offor’s Interstate Electrics without exempting Aba from the sale, thereby causing friction between Interstate Electrics and Geometric.
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The backing of then Vice President Namadi Sambo titled the balance in favour of Offor’s Interstate Electrics.
According to knowledgeable sources, the former vice president had vested interests in Interstate Electrics and wanted the company to end up buying Enugu Disco.
The Sambo-led National Council on Privatisation (NCP) bent the rules of the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies, when Interstate Electrics failed to meet the August 21 deadline for the payment of the remaining 75 percent of the bid value.
The company was said to have lobbied the NCP and BPE to get them to grant it an extension to pay for the asset, for which industry analysts said there was no moral justification when similarly some investors were shut out at the preliminary stages in the same circumstances.
Until it got to Interstate Electric’s inability to make any payment at the August 21, 2013 deadline, the NCP and the BPE did not allow any exception. Even when Dangote was a few minutes late in submitting its bid for Geregu and Shiroro, it was disqualified.
In November 2012, the vice president had, through a memo, directed the BPE headed by Bola Onagoruwa to disregard the 2004 Memorandum of Understanding with Geometric Power, and the 2005 and 2006 lease agreements that ring-fenced Aba and Ariaria business units in favour of Geometric, but because she insisted that the contract should be honoured, she was asked to quit ‘with immediate effect’ on November 27, 2013.
Analysts described the development at the time as curious in terms of timing and very disturbing from an investor perspective.
In suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/106/2013, filed at a federal high court in Abuja, Geometric sought to restrain BPE from listing the two business units among government-owned companies slated for privatisation, as selling or privatising the entire Enugu Disco contravenes the existing agreements between the Federal Government and Aba Power Limited and Geometric.
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In another suit number, FHC/ABJ/CS/106/2013, Interstate Electrics Limited sought to be joined in the case instituted by Aba Power Limited and Geometric Power Aba Limited against the BPE.
In the understanding that an out-of-court settlement would be the best option for settling the dispute, the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) set up a peace committee.
In its report, obtained by BusinessDay, the NCP committee admitted that “BPE indicated that Aba ring-fence was encumbered, yet it included Aba ring-fence in its bid and that Aba ring-fenced area belongs entirely to Aba Power Ltd. with its generating power responsibilities.”
A report by NERC, after a visit to the Geometric Power infrastructure in Aba, submitted that “it will be a disservice to the country in general and the company (GPAL ad APL) in particular, after investing such a huge amount of money in power infrastructure, to be denied the terms of the tripartite agreement. A disregard of the agreement will cast a bad light on the Federal Government’s privatisation process and send a wrong signal to other prospective investors in the power sector.”.
In February 2014, a team from the Federal Ministry of Power, led by the permanent secretary, after visiting Aba, submitted that “the sanctity of the lease agreement of 2004 and the supplementary agreement of 2006 between the Federal Government and Geometric Power be respected and maintained.”
Several promises by former President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the matter never materialised, and it was not until 2020 during the Muhammadu Buhari administration that the impasse was resolved.
Described as the biggest investment in the Southeast, Geometric Power has spent some $800 million 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.
Nnaji disclosed as far back as 2015 that his firm paid $3.5 million monthly as interest on the $500 million borrowed from Diamond Bank and other Nigerian financial institutions.
Geometric Power’s Aba project may be a case of better late than never but its dark side surely leaves more to be desired.
Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, on Thursday, said Nigeria should break up if the path would solve the country’s challenges.
Delivering his lecture titled ‘Recovering the Narrative’, Soyinka said Nigeria should decentralised for Nigerians to enjoy the country more.
The lecture, which was delivered by the Nobel laureate, is part of the weeklong activities marking the 50th anniversary of PUNCH.
The elder statesman said decentralisation would allow governance to get closer to the people, adding that it was high time for leaders to stop taking Nigerians for a ride.
“I know the fear. The fear is collapse, break up. That’s been the excuse given by several regimes. But suppose the nation is breaking up informally, in other words as a fact rather than as a theory. Then, and you better just address this. Come straight on and see exactly what happened.
What is wrong with general representatives seeing them and saying this is the protocol of our association, Anything outside of it?
Anyone who does not want to accept these protocols, abide by these protocols and manifest these protocols in the act should take a walk. I have no problem at all.
“We live in what is known as the nation beginning as a vast football field is ending up as a ping pong table. If that is going to restore dignity to citizens. If that is going to guarantee three square meals a day then so be it. One of my favourite expressions with people is “Let nations die, that humanity may live.”
He explained that while Nigerian politicians know the importance of restructuring, they change their tune when they get to power.
He said, “What do you mean by restructuring? Well, I don’t even like the word restructuring. I use, I prefer expressions like reconfiguration and decentralisation. Everybody can grasp that, decentralisation. And those who lead, recognise the necessity of it. They recognise the importance, almost the inevitability of it until they get into power, yes, that’s the difference.
“It’s about time, I think leaders stopped taking this nation for a ride, you know, we must decentralise. Security, you know, has become a burden to bear. From all corners of the nation, that is the crime.
“Decentralised so that government can come closer to the people, and productivity can really be manifested as a product of citizens, not simply as a manna from heaven.”
Congratulations to Professor Barth Nnaji and his crew for the successful completion of Aba Power project after many years of setbacks. This is a day of jubilation for Aba residents and people of the five southeast states. Governor Alex Otti and his officials deserve praise for their contribution to the completion of the Aba Power project. Aba is the heartland of Igbo industrialization. The prospect of 24 hours power every day in Aba portends good fortunes for the Southeast region. This is evidently a landmark event that elicits joy across the country.
But it is sad that some people want to turn a day of glory to a day of falsehood. Some with personal agenda against others would not allow Barth Nnaji, his team, Governor Otti and the people of Aba to rejoice on this important milestone. There was no need to use the happy occasion of the commission of the Aba Power and Geometry to peddle blatant falsehood about the project and the roles certain persons played.
Many people in Nigeria and outside the country have drawn my attention to an article going viral on social media where my person and character were scandalized in regard to events surrounding Aba Power project. I am sad at false statements published by the BusinessDay newspaper on Tuesday, February 27, 2024. The article written by a certain Lolade Akinmurele and titled “The dark side of the Aba power project” peddles falsehood about my person and my role as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The article chronicles the history of the project and focuses on those the author believes frustrated it. The article narrates how then Vice President, Namadi Sambo, Emeka Offor, DG, BPE, Benjamin Dikki, Mohammed Bello Adoke, the Attorney General of the Federation, and Anyim Pius Anyim allegedly frustrated Bart Nnaji and Aba Power. I am not bothered with the tendentious narration of events. I am angry at the attempt of the author to rope me into the alleged conspiracy. He wrote “Offor, who was blocking the project, has Ayim Pius Anyim, secretary to the government, in his pocket, while Sam Amadi, the Chairman of and CEO of NERC, was beholding to Anyim”.
Interestingly, the author does not mention any action that I or NERC took or decision that we made that affected Bart Nnaji adversely and benefited Emeka Offor. To show that the inclusion of my name in an alleged conspiracy was a deliberate plot to tarnish my name, in the same article, he mentioned the positive action NERC under my leadership as Chairman and CEO took which was sympathetic to Bart Nnaji. For example, he states as follow: “A report by NERC, after a visit to the Geometry Power infrastructure in Aba, submitted a report that ‘it will be a disservice to the country in general and the company (GPAL and APL) in particular, after investing such a huge amount of money in power infrastructure, to be denied the term of the tripartite agreement. A disregard of the agreement will cast a doubt on the federal government privatization process and send a wrong signal to other prospective investors in the private sector”. How the head of an agency that wrote such a report be accused without any other contrary fact of conniving against the Aba Power project? Of course, the phrase “beholding to Anyim’ in that contest was added to tarnish my reputation. The manner my name was obliquely mentioned as a stooge of Pius Ayim is an effort to paint me as someone who is not as honest as he professes. It is a deliberate effort to stain my integrity and public service records.
I have always cherished my honest public service record in Nigeria. I have challenged anyone who has any evidence of financial or other improprieties against me during my five years stewardship in NERC to bring it forward. In fact, I have on numerous occasions asked to be thoroughly probed for any financial other improprieties. Since over 8 years I left office, no one has issued me a query for any wrongdoing. I am very proud of my character and reputation, and I will defend it with every ounce of energy and pint of blood. As someone who has built and maintained a character and reputation for truthfulness, honesty and integrity, and who cherishes greatly my record of unstained public service, I bear a responsibility to correct this falsehood and present the truth facts of my role in the Aba Power project saga.
It is important to note that even by the account of the author, neither NERC nor I played key role in the contract between Bart Nnaji and the federal government and the sale of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC). As a regulator, we were very clear that our role is regulatory and not transactional.
In the foregoing I make the following statements of facts.
1. The contract between Prof Barth Nnaji and the federal government over the Aba Power project was entered in 2005, five years before I became Chairman of NERC. The contract was a leasehold over some part of the Aba distribution area. The contract requires the federal government to allow Bart Nnaji to operate the two business units in Ariara and Osisioma in Aba, described as the ‘ring-fenced area’. Bart Nnaji also has a power plant to supply power to the ring-fenced area. The contract anticipates privatization and gives Aba Power the right of first refusal over the ring-fenced area whenever the federal government intends to sell the Enugu Distribution Company.
2. Prof Barth Nnaji was the Minister of Power from 2011 to 2013 when the process for privatization was completed. He was only removed just before the winners of the bid were announced. Throughout the relevant period of the privatization, Professor Barth Nnaji was Minister of Power and had de facto control of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) that executed the privatization process. He chaired the Presidential Task Force on Power and was key figure in the National Council on Privatization that made key decisions about privatization. The Director General of BPE, Bola Onaguruwa worked closely with him and generally under his control as Minister of Power.
3. I was appointed chairman of NERC in December 2010 after the federal government through the Ministry of Power and the BPE had rolled out the Presidential Action Plan for Power whose highpoint was privatization of the PHCN successor companies. NERC’s responsibility was to provide regulations to support the privatization. The most important components of regulatory support are the evaluation of the assets of the various companies to be privatized and the preparation of tariffs. The Minister of Power and the DG of BPE asked NERC to evaluate the assets of the 11 distribution companies (DISCOs), including the Enugu Disco. There was no request to separate the ring-fenced areas from Enugu Disco for separate evaluation. The reason being that the Ministry of Power and BPE intended to privatize the entire Enugu distribution area to whoever was the preferred bidder.
4. To the best of my knowledge, Prof Bart Nnaji as part of his business plan, intended to buy the Enugu Disco. There is nothing wrong about that. He is an entrepreneur whose entry into power sector was first as a private power producer in a deal to supply power to Abuja metropolis. Perhaps, based on the confidence that he would win the bid he neglected or forgot to separate the Aba Ring-Fenced area from the rest of Enugu Disco before he authorized the privatization of the entire Enugu Disco, including the Aba ring-fenced area. Later, when I confronted both DG BPE and Prof Bart Nnaji on why he failed to separate the Aba ‘ring-fenced’ area from Enugu Disco before authorizing privatization, they argued something to the effect that the Vice President opposed them. I have no proof of this fact.
5. Professor Barth Nnaji organized a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to bid for Enugu Disco, including the Aba ring-fenced area. He set up a special committee of BPE and Ministry of Power officials to evaluate the bids for the discos. After close of bid, his SPV, was adjudged the winner of the ENTIRE Enugu disco, including the Aba ring-fenced area.
6. At no time did I participate in evaluating or choosing the winner of the bid. A few NERC staff who participated in the evaluation process were mere observers because NERC as a regulator has no responsibility to sell private public enterprises.
7. After the evaluation and selection of Barth Nnaji’s firm as the preferred bidder, Chief Emeka Offor’s consortium petitioned on the ground of error. The Presidency empaneled a special committee chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power. The Chairman of NERC, the DG of BPE and BPE consultants were member with a mandate to review the process. After reviewing the process, the committee agreed that Chief Emeka Offor’s consortium ought to win the bid after correcting the error. The NCP approved Chief Emeka Offor’s consortium as the winner of the bid and the preferred bidder.
8. After the declaration of Chief Emeka Offor’s consortium as the winner, Bola Onagoruwa, the DG of BPE, wrote to NERC to cut off Aba ring-fenced area from Enugu disco area and reevaluate it for Barth Nnaji to purchase. NERC rejected that request because it would violate regulatory due process. You cannot conclude a sale of a territory and after the buyer has fulfilled terms and conditions you alter the sale. While he was the Minister of Power and supervised the privatization, Professor Bart Nnaji had opportunity to demand the performance of the contract he had with federal government to be given the right of first rejection to purchase the Aba ring-fenced area before privatization. He did not do so, since he had reasonable expectations that he would purchase the entire Enugu disco. But unfortunately, he lost to Emeka Offor. NERC took the view that it would be a corrupt and unlawful action to alter the completed transaction to compensate Bart Nnaji in the circumstances in which he participated and lost out in the wholesome sale of Enugu disco.
9. As a responsible regulator, NERC sent a team of its technical staff to evaluate the work done by Geometry and Aba Power on the ground. The team reported highly of the efforts of Prof Bart Nnaji and his team. Based on this report, I wrote to the CEO of Enugu Distribution Company to implement the contract between the federal government and Bart Nnaji by allowing Aba Power ‘operationalize’ the contract to exercise authority over the Aba ring-fenced area as a lessee.
10. Bart Nnaji proceeded to court against the federal government for violating the lease agreement. Later Emeka Offor joined the suit. NERC was not part of the suit and had nothing to do with the contest between both parties.
11. There were many interventions at the presidency to settle the matter. At one of those meeting, President Jonathan asked me as Chairman of NERC to resolve it because I would follow due process. At NERC as a commission resolved to undertake a public hearing on the matter to ensure transparency and give all parties, including customers of the ring-fenced area to express their opinions. NERC advertised a date for a public hearing to conduct due process review of the dispute between Bart Nnaji’s company and Emeka Offor’s EEDC. Before the hearing, we got a letter from the Attorney General of the Federation asking us to hands-off as the matter was before the court.
12. The next time we had something to do with the matter was at the instance of the Buhari presidency. NERC had a regulatory meeting and issued an expert opinion that restates that Enugu disco should allow Aba Power to ‘operationalize’ the lease but as a lessee of Enugu disco and EEDC as lessor. This means that Aba Power will pay Enugu disco regulated fee for use of its network. Barth Nnaji rejected this view because he claimed he ought to be given full control of ring-fenced area by the federal government.
13. The last official engagement with the matter before I left office in December 2015 was a special meeting called by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. Chief Olanipekun SAN led Bart Nnaji and Chief Ademola SAN led a director of Enugu disco for Emeka Offor for the meeting. The Vice President endorsed the NERC recommended option as the fair and legal approach to solve the problem.
14. It is important to note that throughout this period I never had any meeting with either Emeka Offor or Pius Anyim or any of Emeka’s Offor’s proxy in any form on the matter in dispute. There has been no moment in my multiple interactions with Anyim Pius Anyim as Secretary to Government of the Federation that he ever sought my opinion or offer any opinion to me about the dispute over Aba Power. Chief Emeka Offor never met me privately in my office or anywhere to discuss the matter with me.
15. As a matter of fact, it was Bart Nnaji who had made efforts to discuss the matter privately with me. First, he came to my office to discuss the matter with the highly revered Paschal Dozie. I told Mr. Dozie the truth as I always do that the only solution short of a judicial decision to the benefit of Bart Nnaji is to operationalize the lease so that Aba Power pays lease to Enugu disco and distribute power in the ring-fenced area. Bart Nnaji also came to my house with another of his friend and we had lunch, and I restated my position. So, if there is anyone who has had personal conversation with me over the Aba Power project it is neither Pius Anyim Pius nor Emeka Offor. It is actually Professor Bart Nnaji.
These are facts which can be crosschecked with records with NERC. I challenge anyone who doubts this narration of facts to trigger a Freedom of Information request and scrutinize the records of proceedings of NERC regulatory and management meetings. As I always state in matter of integrity and due process, if there is any evidence that I ever had a meeting with anyone or anyway took any action contrary to what I stated here I will voluntarily go to prison for any such offence.
Let me make it clear. One of the accusations against me is that I was fiercely independent as a regulator and did not listen to anyone outside NERC in regulatory decisions. Everyone in the power sector knows that I would rather resign than submit to the dictation of anyone outside NERC. I have said it before that I am personally responsible for any decision I made as NERC Chairman. I had in the past absolved President Jonathan or any other person from any liability for decisions made by NERC. No one pressured or forced me to take any action that is wrong or self-serving. I am proud that nothing has been found against me more than 8 years since I left office as the Chairman of NERC. Since then, I have not done any work for any company in the electricity sector. I removed myself from any benefit from the sector far beyond the 2 years that the Act requires me to recuse myself. I have not received one kobo from any company in the Nigerian electricity industry. I challenge anyone to contradict me on this claim.
The article tried to stain my reputation by suggesting that I worked on behalf of Anyim and Emeka Offor to delay or deny the completion of Aba Power project. That is an absolute falsehood as the facts above attest. It is an insult to suggest I was beholding to Ayim Pius Ayim in doing my work on Chairman of NERC. As records show, in all circumstances, I acted on my understanding of what the law and facts require of me as a regulator. It is ironic that it was the same Anyim Pius Anyim who once told me that President Jonathn once said ‘Please let everyone allow Sam do his work. For once, let us have a man of courage and integrity who would not succumb to anyone”. I am proud that I maintained that integrity throughout my tenure at NERC. I am sure Prof Bart Nnaji knows me so well. He is not and cannot be part of this blatant lie.
Whereas I need to correct the false statement against me, it should not obscure the great achievement of the moment. The commissioning of the Aba Power project is a testimony to the commitment and resilience of Prof Barth Nnaji. It is a good fortune for Governor Alex Otti and the people of Abia as they strive to make Aba the industrial heartland of Nigeria as it deserves to be. Nigeria now has an example of how to do it better and faster from the Aba Power project.
Let us embrace the learning without the falsehood. As for BusinessDay and its writer, they will have their day in court for libel.
Aba Power Ltd, a subsidiary of Geometric Power, will start to supply power from one of its three turbines to consumers in the Aba Ring-fenced Area this weekend rather than in two weeks as originally scheduled.
The company had scheduled supplies to commercial customers 13 days after commissioning in line with technical protocols, but, according to sources, its chairman, Professor Bart Nnaji who is a former Minister of Power, has directed the utility’s engineers to provide “power to the people without fail this weekend”.
The Geometric Power 188 Megawatt thermal plant and the Aba Power company to distribute electricity to nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State were commissioned last Monday by Vice President Kassim Shettima on behalf of President Bola Tinubu in the Osisioma Industrial Layout in Aba, Abia, State, 24 hours after the first turbine was turned on.
“Non-critical technical procedures must be eliminated”, the Geometric Power founder told his team of local and foreign engineers, according to three highly placed officials who do not want their names because they were not authorised to speak to the media on this matter.
Officials of the National Control Centre (NCC) at Oshogbo in Osun State were billed to inspect the Geometric Power facility next week as one of the technical requirements, but they will now arrive this week, according to the sources who disclosed that “Nnaji, a globally recognized engineering professor, is pulling all the strings and using his network”.
When one of Geometric Power’s three turbines built by General Electric of the United States goes into commercial operations this weekend, it will supply 47MW, which is almost double the 25MW the Aba Metropolis and the environs currently receive from the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) through the national grid, explained Cliff Eneh, an energy consultant in Lagos who used to be a senior engineer with the National Power Authority (NEPA) after working for the Texas Power and Light Company in the United States.
The second turbine, said Engr Eneh, “will increase power supply to the Aba Ring-fenced Area to 94MW, “thereby meeting Aba energy requirements for now and stabilising power supply to the area.
“Nigeria needs a number of generation and distribution firms with state-of-the-art facilities like Geometric Power, which is an integrated electricity group because it has both generating and distributing subsidiaries”.
Neimeth Pharmaceuticals plc based in Lagos is one of the big firms which has announced the intention to relocate their manufacturing plants to Aba when electricity improves substantially in the industrial city.
Poor power supply, which leads to enormous and costly self -generation, accounts for substantial percentage of high production cost in Nigeria.
Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu disclosed at the commissioning of Geometric Power facilities on Monday that the Federal Government would be studying the performance of the Geometric Power group closely with a view to making it a business model for the development of the beleaguered Nigerian power sector.
The Anambra State Emergency Management Agency has confirmed the death of six people in the building collapse incident that occurred in the commercial city of Onitsha.
According to the agency, about 20 other people were rescued from the rubbles of the collapsed building. Most of them sustained various levels of injuries and are currently receiving treatment at a nearby hospital around the market.
“About six bodies recovered from the rubbles have been deposited at the morgue, while those who sustained varying degrees of injuries were taken to the nearby hospital for medical attention, rescue efforts are still ongoing,” SEMA officials said in a statement released on Tuesday.
The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has visited the Ochanja building site in the commercial city of Onitsha to inspect the extent of damages and cause of the incident.
While at the scene, the governor promised that he would ensure that the victims of the collapsed building receive justice.
The collapsed three-storey building still under construction, which was meant to serve as a market on completion, collapsed at about 8 pm on Monday, while some of the workers and traders were still in the building.
Soludo who was visibly angry at the scene said he was not aware that the construction of the building was going on at the market.
He said, “When investigations are completed, the developer, the Chairman of the market and every other person involved in the disaster will be prosecuted and jailed.
“The remaining building under construction by the same developer, near the collapsed one will be demolished immediately after rescue operations on the site have been completed.”
Soludo also stated that any construction in any market in Anambra State without his express approval will be demolished while vowing that every other existing building must pass through an integrity test.
Also, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Beverly Ikpeazu-Nkemdiche also mourned the victims of the collapse and assured the families that the state government would make sure that no one who was culpable in the disaster went unpunished.
The governor was joined on the visit by top government officials, where he ordered that more excavators be brought to the site of the collapse to help in the rescue operations.
As of the time of filing this report, rescue operations were still ongoing to search for more trapped victims in the rubble.
Singer and rapper, Cynthia Morgan now known as Madrina has criticized colleague Paul Okoye for his decision to distance himself from her. During an Instagram live session, Paul clarified that she was never directly signed to him but rather to his brother, highlighting their separation while expressing well wishes for her recovery.
He said: “Cynthia Morgan, she is not my artiste. She was never my artiste. She was my elder brother’s artiste. They have gone their different ways. Na she sabi. I wish her to get well soon.”
However, Cynthia slammed the singer for the audacity to talk down on her, asking him if she was sick that the singer was wishing her a quick recovery.
Madrina reminded him that he still owed her for the feature she did for him and his then-girlfriend, while he was still married to his now ex-wife, Anita Okoye.
She wrote: “You think you can talk @iamkingrudy you wish me get well soon, me and you who they sick? Remember you still owe me for the feature I did for you and your girlfriend who was also your artiste in 2016? And I believe you were still married at the time? Mind yourself Paul, mind yourself.”
Nigeria is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, leading to widespread hardship and anger. The trade union umbrella group, the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), held protests in the main cities on Tuesday, calling for more action from the government.
A liter of petrol costs more than three times what it did nine months ago, while the price of the staple food, rice, has more than doubled in the past year. These two figures highlight the difficulties that many Nigerians are facing as wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living.
Like many nations, Nigeria has experienced economic shocks from beyond its shores in recent years, but there are also issues specific to the country, partly driven by the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu when he took office last May.
How bad is the economy?
Overall, annual inflation, which is the average rate at which prices go up, is now close to 30% – the highest figure in nearly three decades. The cost of food has risen even more – by 35%.
However, the monthly minimum wage, set by the government and which all employers are supposed to observe, has not changed since 2019, when it was put at 30,000 naira – this is worth just $19 (£15) at current exchange rates.
Many are going hungry, rationing what food they have or looking for cheaper alternatives.
In the north, some people are now eating the rice that is normally discarded as part of the milling process. The waste product usually goes into fish food. Widely shared social media videos indicate how some are reducing portion sizes.
One clip shows a woman cutting a fish into nine pieces rather than the average four to five. She is heard saying her goal is to ensure her family can at least eat some fish twice a week.
What is causing Nigeria’s economic crisis?
Inflation has soared in many countries, as fuel and other costs spiked as a result of the war in Ukraine. But President Tinubu’s efforts to remodel the economy have also added to the burden. On the day he was sworn in nine months ago, the new president announced that the long-standing fuel subsidy would be ending.
This had kept petrol prices low for citizens of this oil-producing nation, but it was also a huge drain on public finances. In the first half of 2023, it accounted for 15% of the budget – more than the government spent on health or education. Mr Tinubu argued that this could be better used elsewhere.
However, the subsequent huge jump in the price of petrol has caused other prices to rise as companies pass on transportation and energy costs to the consumer.
One other factor that is pushing up inflation is an issue that Mr Tinubu inherited from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, according to financial analyst Tilewa Adebajo.
He told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the previous government had asked the country’s central bank for short-term loans to cover spending amounting to $19bn.
The bank printed the money, which helped fuel inflation, Mr Adebajo said.
What has happened to the naira?
Mr Tinubu also ended the policy of pegging the price of the currency, the naira, to the US dollar rather than leaving it up to the market to determine on the basis of supply and demand. The central bank was spending a lot of money maintaining the level.
But scrapping the peg has led the naira’s value to plunge by more than two-thirds, briefly hitting an all-time low last week.
Last May, 10,000 naira would buy $22, now it will only fetch around $6.40.
As the naira is worth less, the price of all imported products has gone up.
When will things get better?
While the president is unlikely to reverse his decisions on the fuel subsidy and the naira, which he argues will pay off in the long run by making Nigeria’s economy stronger, the government has introduced some measures to ease the suffering.
Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima announced the establishment of a board charged with controlling and regulating food prices. The government also ordered the national grain reserve to distribute 42,000 tonnes of grains, including maize and millet.
This is not the first time the government has said it is distributing aid to poor and vulnerable Nigerians, but labor unions have often criticized the government’s method of food distribution, saying much of it does not reach poor families.
The government has also said it is working with rice producers to get more of it into markets and customs officials have been instructed to cheaply sell off bags of the grain that they have seized. In a sign of how bad things are, on Friday this led to a crush in the biggest city, Lagos, which killed seven people, local media report. These hand-outs have now been halted.
The rice was seized under the previous government, which banned imports of rice to encourage local farmers to grow more. That ban was lifted last year in at attempt to bring down the cost but because of the fall in the value of the naira, that has not worked.
Around 15 million poorer households are also receiving a cash transfer of 25,000 naira ($16; £13) a month, but these days that doesn’t go very far.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced its decision to sell foreign exchange worth $20,000 to each eligible Bureau De Change operator across the country.
This is coming more than two years after the suspended former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, stopped the sales of foreign exchange to BDC operators in that segment of the forex market. The apex bank disclosed this in a new circular issued and signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Hassan Mahmud, on Tuesday.
The circular titled, “Sale of Foreign Exchange to Bureau de Change Operators to meet retail demand for eligible invisible transactions” said the move aimed at rectifying the persisting distortions in the retail segment of Nigeria’s foreign exchange market and bridging the widening gap in the exchange rate.
It said the allocation will be sold at a rate of N1,301/$, reflecting the lower band rate of executed spot transactions at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market as of the previous trading day, dated February 27, 2024.
The circular read, “Following the ongoing reforms in the foreign exchange market, aimed at achieving an appropriate market-determined exchange rate for the Naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria has observed the continued price distortions at the retail end of the market, which is feeding into the parallel market and further widening the exchange rate premium.
“To this end, the CBN has approved the sale of foreign exchange to eligible Bureau De Change to meet the demand for invisible transactions. The sum of $20,000 is to be sold to each BDC at the rate of N1,301/$- (representing the lower band rate of executed spot transactions at NAFEM for the previous trading day, as of today, 27th February 2024).
“All BDCs are allowed to sell to end-users at a margin NOT MORE THAN one per cent (1 per cent) above the purchase rate from CBN.”
It further directed eligible BDCs to make Naira payments to the designated CBN Foreign Currency Deposit Naira Accounts and submit confirmation of payment, with other necessary documentation.
“All eligible BDCs are directed to make the Naira payment to the designated CBN Foreign Currency Deposit Naira Accounts and submit confirmation of payment, with other necessary documentation, for disbursement at the appropriate CBN Branches ABUJA, AWKA, LAGOS and KANO,” it added.
The CBN in frantic efforts to save the free fall of the naira has made a number of significant reforms towards addressing Naira depreciation, such as probing and clearing FX backlog, limiting forex for foreign education and medical tourism, increasing BDCs’ minimum share capital, and curbing FX speculators among others .
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has intercepted the single largest consignment of heroin at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.
The Agency said it successfully dismantled and arrested members of an organized criminal organization which specializes in trafficking heroin across Nigeria, South Africa, Mozambique, Europe and America in a 12-day well-coordinated operation leading to the seizure. Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Headquarters Abuja, in a statement on Tuesday, February 27, said this was disclosed at a press conference by the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) in Lagos.
According to the statement, while explaining that the briefing is in line with the Agency’s policy of transparency in its renewed fight against drug traffickers, Marwa gave a chronological brief of how the operation leading to what is now the single largest seizure of heroin at the Lagos airport was successfully carried out.
According to Marwa, “It started on February 10, 2024, when NDLEA operatives of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Command intercepted a suspicious package at the SAHCO Import Shed of the airport’s Cargo Terminal. The consignment was concealed in 15 cartons of 2300-watt metal cutting machines. Each carton was stocked with three blocks of high-grade heroin. In total, we recovered 45 blocks of the illicit substance with a total weight of 49.70kg.
“After the discovery, we were methodical and meticulous in our investigations. We started with the arrest of the freight agent whose name is Olowolagba Wasiu Babatunde. It turned out that he was hired for clearing services by Mattpee Logistics, a company operated by one Mr. Kola resident in South Africa.
“Next, we conducted a follow up operation at the company’s warehouse in the Shogunle area of Oshodi, Lagos, and arrested the warehouse manager, whose name is Ajayi Imole Moses. Thereafter, we set up an ambush for the expected receiver of the consignment who was duly arrested when he showed up for collection. This receiver, whose name is Adinnu Felix Chinedu, confessed during interrogation, that he is the main distributor for a drug syndicate whose membership is spread across Nigeria.
“He admitted that he usually conveyed the consignment to a dedicated warehouse located in Ayobo. That place served as a workshop where he would dismantle the consignment and remove the drugs from the machines. Thereafter, he would wait for a list of various recipients to be forwarded to him from South Africa by the head of the criminal group.
“Our operatives did due diligence by conducting a thorough search of the warehouse which led to the recovery of 56 similar cartons of the cutting machines that were used previously as modes of concealment to ferry heroin into Nigeria. At this point, it was clear that we are dealing with a syndicate that operates in other countries. By the time, we were done exploring various leads we had, we unraveled an organized criminal network that operates in South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria and parts of Europe and America.
“This syndicate has a wide network in Nigeria because the consignments we seized were marked with several codenames, showing that they belonged to different members of this organized criminal group. Furthermore, in our follow-up operation, we uncovered from the suspect a long list of receivers of illicit drugs. In the end, we were able to identify the kingpin of the syndicate here in Nigeria and his name is Reginald Peter Chidiebere. Our investigations showed that he owns the Golden Platinum Hotel and Suite, located at 16 Reginald Peter Chidiebere Street, Hope Estate, Ago Palace.”
