Transcorp Power  fulfils  all privatisation obligations, gets  discharge certificate

Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises ( BPE) has  issued a Certificate of Discharge to the Transcorp Power Plc, discharging the company from routine monitoring and evaluation in respect of the Ugheli Power Plc, which it acquired following the privatisation of power generating companies in 2013.

The event took place on Monday  at the Presidential Villa, Abuja before the commencement of the meeting of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP)  presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Located in Delta State, Southern Nigeria, the gas-power plant was inaugurated in 1966 with an installed capacity of 900MW, but was until its privatisation in 2013, performing at about 300MW.

The Certificate of Discharge given to Transcorp Power Plc indicated that the company has lived up to its covenants and deliverables as contained in the Post Acquisition Plan, PAP.

In his remarks at the event, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said that the Transcorp Power Plc has been able to do what was agreed that it would do in the acquisition of the power plant.

“They have been able to ensure compliance with all of the deliverables and in some cases even exceeding the covenanted deliverables in the PAP.

“So, this is both an opportunity to commend the management of Transcorp Power Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu and members of the Transcorp Power team and also to commend the BPE for doing an excellent job of monitoring and being able to come up with an objective, not just a set of criteria, but also an objective means of deciding that we able today to delist the Transcorp Power.”

“The power needs of country are grave and we strongly believe that the right approach is the privatization of the power sector to enable serious minded private sector players to invest in power and to ensure that they are efficient while they make profit,” he stated.

The Director-General of the BPE, Alex Okoh, said the Ugheli Plant, which is now the Transcorp Power Plc, was one of the six power generation plants privatised by the bureau under the federal government.

He said that the consortium of the Transcorp Ugheli Power Ltd emerged the preferred bidder and core investor in the plant thereby acquiring a 100 percent  of the federal government’s equity in the plant.

According to him, as part of the 2013 privatisation exercise, Ugheli Power Plc executed a performance agreement on the 24th of August 2013 with the BPE and committed to achieving specific improvement targets over a five-year locked in period.

He said the improvement targets covered five key areas and these are available capacity, capital expenditure, human resources, health safety, environment and corporate social responsibility.

“In pursuit of the FG privatization programme and in order to ensure effective and efficient management of the power utility in generation section of the value chain the BPE implemented a five-year monitoring exercise designed to determine the level of performance of the core investment.

“It is pertinent to note that arising from the monitoring exercise conducted by the BPE and in exercise of the powers vested on it .

“Following a capacity determination and validation of the Ugheli Power Plc by the consultants engaged by the NCP it was determined that generation capacity has increased by about 227% from the operational status of 300mw at the point of handover in 2013.

“The company has achieved an available capacity of 680.8mw, which surpasses the minimum performance of 670mw.

“Capital expenditure totalling 58.6billion was the covenant established for phases 1 and 2 of the PAP, while actual investment made by the core investor was in the sum of 83.85 billion.”

Chairman of the Transcorp Group, Tony Elumelu said that the company would continue to invest in power sector because it holds the key to the success of the Nigerian economy.

“Let me also say that in addition to the criteria set, we actually are doing a very strong Indigenization of Transcorp Power Plc. I’m proud to say that our power plant is managed and operated 100 percent by Nigerians.

“I am also proud to say that safety standards are extremely high; we have operated since 2013 with no incident and we hope and pray that it will be sustained because we know the importance of safety and sustainability in today’s world.”

Elumelu said that the company has created a lot of jobs and has provided hospitals and schools in the community where it has its operations.

Okoh signed the Certificate of Discharge on behalf of the Federal Government, while Elumelu signed on behalf of the Transcorp Power Plc.