The Director-General, World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has called on various governments in Nigeria to create proper regulatory environments to ensure the success of investment in the power sector. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala made the call on Monday in her goodwill message, sent virtually, at the inauguration of the Aba Integrated Power Project (IPP), Geometric Power Group.
The power plant was commissioned on Monday February 26, by the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Senator Kashim Shettima who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti and Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, amongst others. The power plant was conceptualised 20 years ago by Prof Barth Nnaji, the Chairman of Geometric Power Group who partnered with Afrexim Bank, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Stanbic IBTC Bank, Diamond Bank (now Access Bank Plc), and the Bank of Industries (BOI).
She explained that creating proper regulatory environments was needed to enable the country’s energetic private sector to follow the Aba IPP example and invest more in energy infrastructure. According to her, the Aba IPP is a great example of the type of private sector infrastructure investment we want to see in Nigeria, especially around the South-East.
“The benefits are truly significant, especially for the thousands of small and medium scale enterprises in Aba, including our well-known industrial market, Ariaria. The nation will also benefit from the additional megawatts of power that Aba IPP will send to the national grid instead of being used in Aba.
“The Aba IPP is totally funded by African capital, something we should all be proud of.” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala also said that the expectation of establishing Aba IPP was to help stimulate other investments in manufacturing in the Aba area by providing reliable electricity. She added that another advantage of the IPP was that it makes use of the nation’s gas, a clean energy transition fuel that Nigeria is so fortunate to have in abundance.
“There is really no reason why this country should have the majority of its households without power or have industries struggling when we have the basic energy transition fuel that other countries are yearning for. Let me reiterate how excited I am that this thing has finally come. I wish you all a wonderful and successful event,” she said.
Prof Barth Nnaji
Described as the biggest investment in the Southeast, Geometric Power has spent some $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 company in addition, according to Ben Caven the Managing Director of Geometric Power Limited installed 150,000 kilometres of cables and wires and installed four new power substations as well as refurbished three others that were inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
He said, “Only in cities like Tokyo and San Francisco in California you have facilities of this quality and sizes. Much as they are very tall, as all of us can see, the tubular poles here are actually about 10 meters deep. In other words, in the unlikely event of a natural disaster like earthquake in Aba or the environs, Aba Power and the Geometric Group will still be able to supply electricity to its numerous customers,” he added.
The Geometric Power Group was founded by Professor Bart Nnaji, a globally respected academic engineer in the United States, who has been Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology and later Minister of Power.
Nnaji embarked on the integrated project after the then World Bank President James Wolfensohn and then Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala visited Aba on March 17, 2004, and discovered that the greatest challenge facing both large-scale and medium-scale industrialists in Aba, reputed to be the centre of indigenous manufacturing in Nigeria, is epileptic power supply.
Both Wolfensohn and Okonjo-Iweala appealed to Nnaji to assist with a power plant dedicated to Aba, following the 22MW Abuja Emergency Power Plant he led a team of Nigerian engineers to build in Abuja from 2000 to 2001 that supplied uninterrupted power to critical places like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Company, the Central Bank headquarters, the Aso Rock and the entire Central Business District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
