Nigeria gets additional 141 M, as Tinubu inaugurates $800m Geometric Power project in Aba

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

About 141 megawatts of electricity was added to the national grid on Monday, February 26, 2024, as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inaugurated the Aba Independent Power Project (AIPP), a private sector-driven initiative powered by Geometric Power Limited.

Geometric Power Limited was conceived in 2004 to provide 188 megawatts of uninterrupted electricity to the Aba ring-fenced area consisting of nine of the 17 local government areas of Abia State. 

The management of Geometric located at the Osisioma Ngwa Industrial Layout said it has installed its power plant comprising, at present, three gas turbines, with each producing 47 megawatts, adding up to the current 141 megawatts of electricity it produces, and promised to install the last turbine to bring the infrastructure to its 188 megawatts full capacity if demand for power in its jurisdiction increases.

Inaugurating the project, estimated to have gulped $800 million, President Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Sehettima, described the Aba IPP project as a game changer.

“I bring you glad tidings from His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is mightily proud of the completion of this project. He is equally mightily proud of Prof. Barth Nnaji.

“The commissioning of this project bears testimony to the power of dreams,” Shettima said.

The Vice President noted that though the delay in realizing the project has taken a heavy toll on the Chief Executive Officer of Geometric Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, the federal government was, nonetheless, happy that it has finally come to fruition.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu,   said that the success of Geometric would encourage the federal government to adopt its model in its quest to address the energy crises in Nigeria.

“The federal government will watch the performance of Geometric Power closely. When it succeeds on its mission, we will use it as a business model for the radical improvement of the Nigeria power sector,” Adelabu said.

He stressed that the project was not only for the Aba ring-fenced area as excess power not consumed by Aba people would be delivered to the national grid to help in electricity improvement in various parts of Nigeria.

The Minister decried the nine years delay of the project, blaming  it on the manner the power sector was privatized, as the Bureau of Public Enterprises  sold the Aba ring-fenced area earlier concessioned to Geometric, to Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, thereby triggering a long legal tussle between the two firms and an eventual out-of-court settlement in which Geometric had to pay $26 million to EEDC.

He said  such would not have happened if Tinubu had been in Office earlier. The Minister said that Geometric has put in place, infrastructure which could be found only in few cities of the world and called on Nigerians to ensure the security of the installations, saying “the infrastructure is expensive to maintain, let alone replacing it.”

“Therefore, the onus is on every citizen to report to security agents or community leaders, vandals who damage infrastruce that benefit the public,” the Minister added.

He enjoined consumers who would benefit  from Geometric Power to always pay their electricity bills promptly and not to indulge in any sharp practices that would negatively affect the company such as metre by-passing and beating up of their staff.

“I am also assuring you that the end is coming to estimated billing. You will all get your metres, you will know the actual amount you incurred, there will not be guess work, there will be actual bills payment,” Adelabu said.

Earlier in his speech, Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, 

had said that the 141MW, expandable to 188MW power generation and distribution facility was  built to supply uninterrupted electricity to businesses and households across nine local governments in Abia State within the Aba ring-fenced area. 

Otti said the project was dear to him 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. 

“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,” the Governor said.

“We have therefore gathered to celebrate the actualisation of a lofty dream, the beginning of a new epoch and the reaffirmation of our limitless abilities as a people. 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,” he added.

He advised Geometric to adopt best international practices in its srvice delivery and urged the public to guard against willful sabotage of the company.

“My message to Geometric Power and its subsidiaries is that their investments are very safe in Abia State, and will be profitable in the long  run,” Otti assured.

Narrating how Geometric Power Limited was born, its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Barth Nnaji, a former Minister of Power, said it was a response to the desire of the Abia business community for a relaible power supply.

“This project,” Prof. Nnaji started off, “is a child of necessity. It was born 20 years ago when the desire of Aba industrialists, including the Small and Medium Scale Industries, wanted to have additional and good quality power supply and our desire to contribute our quota towards increasing power supply in the nation converged.

 “It became apparent to us that the best way to have a reliable and affordable electricity was to build this autonomous power project to serve the Aba metropolis, with excess power delivered to the national grid.

“At the same time, the then World Bank President, Mr Wolfenson, and the Finance Minister who is now the Director-General of World Trade Organisation, Dr Mrs Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, came on March17, 2004 to meet with the Aba Industrialists. At the meeting, the Ariaria manufacturers were asked to identify their Number One problem which, if addressed, will significantly improve their production. They unanimously said that it was reliable electricity. 

“This convergence of desire for reliable electricity is what led us to this historic Aba IPP.

“At that time, our development partners from the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and the European Investment Bank and I wanted to find a business model for power development in Nigeria that was sustainable, that could stand on its own and could be easily replicated by various investors in other major cities and industrial clusters in Nigeria.

“At that time, as of now, Nigeria could not afford sovereign guarantee for all of its power needs.

We therefore developed a model of customized embedded generation that would not require sovereign guarantee.

“Consequently, we set about developing this integrated power project to satisfy the electricity needs of Aba metropolis at a time when the Power Reform Act of 2005 was not yet enacted.

“Upon our request, the federal government concessioned Aba metropolis to us, to ensure security of the investment in the project and a big relief to the federal government on a sovereign guarantee.”

According to the Professor of Robotic Engineering, his firm has built world-class power infrastructure to meet the energy needs of the people.

“In line with the arrangement, we have build here, 141 megawatts power  plant with state-of-the-art equipment from General Electric and rehabilitated the entire distribution network in Aba. In addition to the power plant, we have build over 105 kilometre of 33 KV overhead lines within the metropolis.

“You can see that the steel tubular poles used to build the 33 KV infrastructure is unlike any other in Nigeria. We have also built over 40 kilometres of new11KV lines in Aba, in addition to rehabilitating thousands of kilometers of sub-transmission and low voltage lines.

“We have completed five new substations consisting of the power plants’ 3x60MVA substation, four brand new 2×15 MVA substations at various parts of Aba town.

“In addition, we have refurbished the only three existing dilapidated substations  which we inherited as part of our acquisition of the  Aba ring-fence by building three brand new Control buildings in outdoor substations within the premises  of the existing substations.

“In order to ensure reliable electricity, we have built a 27-kilometre gas pipeline from Imo River  to this power plant and built the gas infrastructure to support the supply of reliable gas to the plant.

To date, we have invested approximately $800 million dollars.”

Prof. Nnaji declared the Geometric Power would make a success of its venture if constant gas supply is guaranteed.

“Now that this project is completed, and being commissioned, the test of whether Nigeria can have reliable electricity is actually here. The test is partly about gas supply. We can guaranty that if we have reliable gas supply,  we will provide absolute reliable electricity to Aba metropolis. 

“The onus is now on the government to demonstrate that reliable power is possible in Nigeria by ensuring that this project gets reliable gas supply,” he said.

Earlier in her goodwill message, Dr Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had said she was happy the Aba IPP has been realised.

Delivering her message via Zoom, the WTO Director-General said the Aba IPP would be of great help to energy transition in Nigeria and called for government’s  friendly regulatory environment to make such investments attractive.

The event was witnessed by many political leaders, captains of industries, traditional rulers and religious leaders, among others.