By Tony Adibe
The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima has said that electricity is sinequanon to any industrial revolution in any country just as he described the southeast zone as the economic hub of Nigeria. Vice President Shettima spoke during the formal launch of the ‘Light Up Nigeria Initiative and the Southeast Business Roundtable in Enugu on Monday.
Shettima said that Southeast, which he said has 87 million people living in it, was very important to the country, adding that “if Southeast Zone works, Nigeria works.” He, however, added that the”little power they are getting must be sustained”, stressing that President Bola Tinubu-led federal government “means we’ll for the southeast. We have to make the southeast work. We are targeting the southeast.”
In his speech, Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, said that the Light-Up Nigeria Project “signals a new dawn for power and industrialisation of the Southeast region,” saying the initiative aligns with his administration’s disruptive approach to governance underpinned by thinking outside the box.
Mbah, while commending the Federal Government and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) for coming up with the project to ramp up power supply to industrial clusters in the Southeast, enjoined industrialists of the region to fully key into it and take advantage of the initiative to remove any bottlenecks they face regarding power availability.
The governor spoke at the Southeast Business Roundtable and flag-off of the Light-up Nigeria Project – Southeast, by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima in Enugu on Monday.
“The Light up Nigeria Project Today is, in my view, a new dawn for power in the Southeast and one of the most innovative initiatives in the power sector. This project is of critical importance since it deals with the power sector, which I believe is pivotal to economic growth. Indeed, if we fix power, a lot of other sectors would fall into place.
But Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State appealed to the federal government to remove the electricity and gas from the Exclusive List and put them in the Concurrent List to enable the governors have full control of the issues and address them adequately.
However, Imo State Governor Hope Uzoodinmma lamented that a good number of industries in the southeast zone are going down owing to lack of electricity. Governor Uzoodinmma called for a strong synergy or correlation among the generation, transmission, and distribution companies, adding that “electricity is our common patrimony.”
“We should wear our thinking cap to ensure steady and adequate power supply in Nigeria,” said Governor Uzoodinmma. In his contribution, the Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. Francis Nwifuru said, “There’s no way people will be willing to pay for electricity with the estimated billing system.” He urged the concerned authorities to provide the people regular electricity and see that people will be willing to pay for the services.
The Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC), Mr. Chiedu Ugbo said that the “Light Up Nigeria” Initiative demonstrated the determination and commitment of President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to provide workable solution to the challenges in Nigeria’s power sector.
He said the event provided an opportunity for the business community in the South-East Zone to interact with Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima , as it marked the formal launch of the South-East phase of the strategic collaboration between NDPHC and other project parties to provide steady and reliable electricity supply to industrial
and business clusters across Nigeria.
Ugwo said that the occasion was also part of a series of initiatives led by the Vice President, who serves as the Chairman of Niger Delta Power Holding Company. “These initiatives demonstrate the commitment and determination of President Tinubu’s administration, working through NDPHC, to provide reliable and sustainable solutions to the electricity challenge in the country, starting with reliable and affordable supply to industries,” Ugbo said.
He recalled that the first event in this series took place on October 12, 2023, in Agbara, Ogun State, South-West Nigeria,where V President Shettima engaged with the business community and committed to providing the required electricity to power businesses in industrial areas across the country through NDPHC.
“Since then, significant progress has been made on the Agbara Project including identifying and signing on key industrial customers, conducting engineering surveys, negotiating transaction agreements, and procuring OEM/EPC providers for the required transmission and distribution projects. He said that additionally, NDPHC has worked closely with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and FGN Power Company to conduct engineering surveys, identify sites, and acquire a mobile transmission substation for the project. TCN has approved the connection of the new substation to the national grid, and efforts are underway to deploy this fast-track transmission substation. He said the Enugu event would build on the commitment made by the Vice President at Agbara and will be replicated in other geopolitical zones across the country.
He said that the NDPHC, a government-owned company, is responsible for implementing the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) and operates a portfolio of gas thermal electricity generation assets in Nigeria. However, the optimal utilization of these assets has been hindered by technical challenges and market constraints, according to him.
“One major challenge is the lack of sufficient transmission and distribution infrastructure to transport power from the plants. To underscore this point, just last Friday, we received the Honourable Minister of Power at our 500MW Benin (Ihovbor) Power Plant. This power plant shares the transmission facilities with Azura-Edo Power plant nextdoor with over 460 MW. The two plants together can generate over 900MW.The Honourable Minister witnessed first-hand the level of underutilisation of the NDPHC generation plant as a result of the transmission constraint.
“However, Transmission Company of Nigeria is now working assiduously towards resolving that constraint in that power plant. Another challenge stems from financial difficulties in the electric power sector here in Nigeria, leading to inadequate payments by distribution companies and Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading company (NBET) to generation companies like NDPHC.
“The huge indebtedness to the generation companies affects the ability of the generation companies to pay for gas supply leading to gas supply shortage and the resulting low generation.” He explained that these challenges of lack of sufficient transmission and distribution infrastructure to transport electricity from the plants and the sector market liquidity crisis “have resulted in gross underutilisation of installed generation assets with unserved potential grid electricity consumers, particularly industries (some of which are represented here today), resorting to expensive and often inefficient self generation.”
According to Ugbo, in response to these challenges, “NDPHC initiated the Light up Nigeria Project, which aims to provide reliable and affordable electricity supply to industries and homes by utilizing underutilized generation capacity, establishing trading agreements with bulk purchasers of electricity, and mobilizing investments to address technical, commercial, and collection losses in the supply chain.
“Additionally, NDPHC aims to receive full payment for the electricity generated and delivered, without relying on the Federal Government for such payments.” Ugbo further said: “The project aligns with the Electricity Act of 2023 (graciously signed into law by His Excellency President Bola Tinubu GCFR), which provides a strong framework for state governments to develop electricity markets at the sub-national level, with the aim of delivering consistent and affordable electricity to residents. Through the Light up Nigeria project, state governments will derive the benefit of increased access to electricity, attraction of investment opportunities, revenue generation and economic growth. At the Federal level, the project will help to reduce the financial burden on FGN’s balance sheet from debt exposure of NBET.
“The project is further reinforced by NERC’s MYTO 2024 which mandates distribution companies to secure adequate bilateral contracts and exit from contractual relationships with NBET.NDPHC remains at the forefront in pursuing bilateral electric power sales and other projects that ensure efficient and targeted electricity
delivery to end-users.”
By Tony Adibe
The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima has said that electricity is sinequanon to any industrial revolution in any country just as he described the southeast zone as the economic hub of Nigeria. Vice President Shettima spoke during the formal launch of the ‘Light Up Nigeria Initiative and the Southeast Business Roundtable in Enugu on Monday.
Shettima said that Southeast, which he said has 87 million people living in it, was very important to the country, adding that “if Southeast Zone works, Nigeria works.” He, however, added that the”little power they are getting must be sustained”, stressing that President Bola Tinubu-led federal government “means we’ll for the southeast. We have to make the southeast work. We are targeting the southeast.”
In his speech, Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, said that the Light-Up Nigeria Project “signals a new dawn for power and industrialisation of the Southeast region,” saying the initiative aligns with his administration’s disruptive approach to governance underpinned by thinking outside the box.
Mbah, while commending the Federal Government and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) for coming up with the project to ramp up power supply to industrial clusters in the Southeast, enjoined industrialists of the region to fully key into it and take advantage of the initiative to remove any bottlenecks they face regarding power availability.
The governor spoke at the Southeast Business Roundtable and flag-off of the Light-up Nigeria Project – Southeast, by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima in Enugu on Monday.
“The Light up Nigeria Project Today is, in my view, a new dawn for power in the Southeast and one of the most innovative initiatives in the power sector. This project is of critical importance since it deals with the power sector, which I believe is pivotal to economic growth. Indeed, if we fix power, a lot of other sectors would fall into place.
But Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State appealed to the federal government to remove the electricity and gas from the Exclusive List and put them in the Concurrent List to enable the governors have full control of the issues and address them adequately.
However, Imo State Governor Hope Uzoodinmma lamented that a good number of industries in the southeast zone are going down owing to lack of electricity. Governor Uzoodinmma called for a strong synergy or correlation among the generation, transmission, and distribution companies, adding that “electricity is our common patrimony.”
“We should wear our thinking cap to ensure steady and adequate power supply in Nigeria,” said Governor Uzoodinmma. In his contribution, the Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. Francis Nwifuru said, “There’s no way people will be willing to pay for electricity with the estimated billing system.” He urged the concerned authorities to provide the people regular electricity and see that people will be willing to pay for the services.
The Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC), Mr. Chiedu Ugbo said that the “Light Up Nigeria” Initiative demonstrated the determination and commitment of President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to provide workable solution to the challenges in Nigeria’s power sector.
He said the event provided an opportunity for the business community in the South-East Zone to interact with Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima , as it marked the formal launch of the South-East phase of the strategic collaboration between NDPHC and other project parties to provide steady and reliable electricity supply to industrial
and business clusters across Nigeria.
Ugwo said that the occasion was also part of a series of initiatives led by the Vice President, who serves as the Chairman of Niger Delta Power Holding Company. “These initiatives demonstrate the commitment and determination of President Tinubu’s administration, working through NDPHC, to provide reliable and sustainable solutions to the electricity challenge in the country, starting with reliable and affordable supply to industries,” Ugbo said.
He recalled that the first event in this series took place on October 12, 2023, in Agbara, Ogun State, South-West Nigeria,where V President Shettima engaged with the business community and committed to providing the required electricity to power businesses in industrial areas across the country through NDPHC.
“Since then, significant progress has been made on the Agbara Project including identifying and signing on key industrial customers, conducting engineering surveys, negotiating transaction agreements, and procuring OEM/EPC providers for the required transmission and distribution projects. He said that additionally, NDPHC has worked closely with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and FGN Power Company to conduct engineering surveys, identify sites, and acquire a mobile transmission substation for the project. TCN has approved the connection of the new substation to the national grid, and efforts are underway to deploy this fast-track transmission substation. He said the Enugu event would build on the commitment made by the Vice President at Agbara and will be replicated in other geopolitical zones across the country.
He said that the NDPHC, a government-owned company, is responsible for implementing the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) and operates a portfolio of gas thermal electricity generation assets in Nigeria. However, the optimal utilization of these assets has been hindered by technical challenges and market constraints, according to him.
“One major challenge is the lack of sufficient transmission and distribution infrastructure to transport power from the plants. To underscore this point, just last Friday, we received the Honourable Minister of Power at our 500MW Benin (Ihovbor) Power Plant. This power plant shares the transmission facilities with Azura-Edo Power plant nextdoor with over 460 MW. The two plants together can generate over 900MW.The Honourable Minister witnessed first-hand the level of underutilisation of the NDPHC generation plant as a result of the transmission constraint.
“However, Transmission Company of Nigeria is now working assiduously towards resolving that constraint in that power plant. Another challenge stems from financial difficulties in the electric power sector here in Nigeria, leading to inadequate payments by distribution companies and Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading company (NBET) to generation companies like NDPHC.
“The huge indebtedness to the generation companies affects the ability of the generation companies to pay for gas supply leading to gas supply shortage and the resulting low generation.” He explained that these challenges of lack of sufficient transmission and distribution infrastructure to transport electricity from the plants and the sector market liquidity crisis “have resulted in gross underutilisation of installed generation assets with unserved potential grid electricity consumers, particularly industries (some of which are represented here today), resorting to expensive and often inefficient self generation.”
According to Ugbo, in response to these challenges, “NDPHC initiated the Light up Nigeria Project, which aims to provide reliable and affordable electricity supply to industries and homes by utilizing underutilized generation capacity, establishing trading agreements with bulk purchasers of electricity, and mobilizing investments to address technical, commercial, and collection losses in the supply chain.
“Additionally, NDPHC aims to receive full payment for the electricity generated and delivered, without relying on the Federal Government for such payments.” Ugbo further said: “The project aligns with the Electricity Act of 2023 (graciously signed into law by His Excellency President Bola Tinubu GCFR), which provides a strong framework for state governments to develop electricity markets at the sub-national level, with the aim of delivering consistent and affordable electricity to residents. Through the Light up Nigeria project, state governments will derive the benefit of increased access to electricity, attraction of investment opportunities, revenue generation and economic growth. At the Federal level, the project will help to reduce the financial burden on FGN’s balance sheet from debt exposure of NBET.
“The project is further reinforced by NERC’s MYTO 2024 which mandates distribution companies to secure adequate bilateral contracts and exit from contractual relationships with NBET.NDPHC remains at the forefront in pursuing bilateral electric power sales and other projects that ensure efficient and targeted electricity
delivery to end-users.”
