The management of Geometric Power has formally acquired the Aba ring-fenced area from Integrated Electricity Limited, a core investor in Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), ending a nine-year legal battle over the rightful owner of the project.

The asset was handed over by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) through the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) at a brief event on Wednesday in Abuja.

Trouble started in 2013 following the privatisation exercise after Interstate Electric acquired 60% of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) from the BPE pursuant to a share sale and purchase agreement.

Subsequently, the distribution licence was issued to EEDC over five states in the South-east, which area also included previously and exclusively licensed Aba Ring-Fenced Area granted to Aba Power Limited (APL).

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On this basis, EEDC became the licensee in respect of the Enugu Distribution Area while APL remained the exclusive licensee of the Aba Ring-fenced area, creating a conflict between the two licences.

The conflict was resolved in 2016 with the signing of an agreement carving out the ring-fence from Enugu DISCO for Geometric/Aba Power Limited.

During the brief ceremony, Alex Okoh, director-general of BPE, described the development as soothing and commendable.

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According to him, the NCP worked hard to see that the tussle was resolved and that the “right thing was done”.

“The bureau initiated a series of engagements with various stakeholders, which led to one the signing of the agreement between Geometric Power and Integrated Electric Limited, the core investor,” he said.

“I am pleased to announce that we are handing over this asset to a tenacious, very, very tenacious investor who has made a firm commitment to transform the Aba Ring Fence area into a model electric supply franchise, providing quality, stable and appropriately priced electricity to consumers, thereby unlocking the significant economic benefits of this commercial and industrial hub of the regional and national economy.”

Barth Nnaji, chairman of Geometric Power, expressed delight that the legal tussle has ended, adding that his company was ready to provide reliable electricity to Aba.

“The other government sold what was rightfully ours to the people who acquired EEDC. So, they simply bundled Aba as part of EEDC. It was done knowingly. That is why we went to court, and we’re grateful this administration resolved the issues,” he said.

“We’ve paid the acquisition price of $26 million. I used to be on the other side of the fence and what we said during that time was that anybody that’s acquiring a DisCo should have the financial capacity or technical capacity, and was that’s what he brought in.

“We have made the necessary investments required to not have any issues in terms of reliability of power supply. So, we have invested about eight times the amount of the acquisition already.”

According to him, the company has built new substations and new power lines to ensure no disruption in service delivery.

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“We have built new substations. We built new power lines, over 140 kilometres of new lines, we built four brand new substations. We’ve built gas pipelines with seven kilometres to ensure that we have gas uninterrupted from Shell to us, etc. So, all these things we’ve done and the whole idea is to ensure that the network is what it is supposed to be,” he added.

The $500 million Geometric/Aba power plant has the capacity to produce and distribute about 141 megawatts (MW) of electricity in its first phase, with new distribution lines, four new sub-stations and three rehabilitated sub-stations.

Each plant is to produce 47 MW of power, supported by a 60 MVA per transformer. The power plant is to be powered by gas and so the company has built a gas plant at Shell company flow station at Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State and laid a pipeline spanning 27 kilometres to the power plant at Osisioma.

Source: The Cable

cc:Lalasticlala

Congrats Prof. Barth Nnaji. Your tenacity paid off finally.

Aba is set to be unleashed.

ABA becomes first city in Nigeria to have 24 hours power ...by Igbo for Igbo

Barth Nnaji one of great Persons I have tremendous respect for

Shame to emeka offor and the fraudulent eedc. Finally aba will enjoy reliable power which is not dependent on the constantly collapsing and comatose national grid

mrvitalis:
ABA becomes first city in Nigeria to have 24 hours power ...by Igbo for Igbo

There is nothing as good as taking one's destiny into his own hands. Barth Nnaji is possessed by a drive to give Aba the needed impetus to boost industrial expansion.

Aba is our China. I wish Geometric could acquire power distribution lines of Nnewi and Onitsha. Nnaji is a thoroughbred professional.

Hallelluia!!!! Let's hope they work efficiently and prove to the world that Nigeria can actually have good power supply if the right people are given the opportunity. Let's hope the principalities and powers that have held the nation in perpetual darkness do not rear their ugly heads again.

gwafaeziokwu:



There is nothing as good as taking one's destiny into his own hands. Barth Nnaji is possessed by a drive to give Aba the needed impetus to boost industrial expansion.

Aba is our China. I wish Geometric could acquire power distribution lines of Nnewi and Onitsha. Nnaji is a thoroughbred professional.

And the fact he is from Enugu is the best part ...Igbo is Igbo 100%

obailala:
Hallelluia!!!! Let's hope they work efficiently and prove to the world that Nigeria can actually have good power supply if the right people are given the opportunity. Let's hope the principalities and powers that have held the nation in perpetual darkness do not rear their ugly heads again.

It was those principalities and powers that handed over licence to EEDC in 2015 when they already know that Geometric Power have a pre-existing license for the Aba axis. Thereby creating unnecessary confusion and delays in turning Aba into the massive industrial hub it should be.

Thanks to the tenacity of Barth Nnaji. Now ndi Aba can smile.

mrvitalis:

And the fact he is from Enugu is the best part ...Igbo is Igbo 100%

Artificial boundaries are for efulefus. True Igbos know themselves.

Prof. Barth Nnaji is the chairman of South East Region Development Company ( SEREDC).

mrvitalis:
ABA becomes first city in Nigeria to have 24 hours power ...by Igbo for Igbo

Ah ah naaaa. Has it started workinggggggggg

mrvitalis:

[s]And the fact he is from Enugu is the best part ...Igbo is Igbo 100%[/s]

Anywhere he's from in Ala-igbo is okay by us. I'm happy Ala-igbo is getting better

Congratulations to Barth Nnaji and umu Aba.

Congratulations to Barth Nnaji…. A true technocrat, this is someone who irrespective of the part of the divide he belongs to should be made the minister of power

JavaScript90:
Shame to emeka offor and the fraudulent eedc. Finally aba will enjoy reliable power which is not dependent on the constantly collapsing and comatose national grid

jonathan was a minus for the Igbo cause..............The ijaw guy was completely lost in Aso Rock,the fat toad Anyim was SGF while this impunity went on, that is if the fat pig was not an instigator. Rather than Anyim becoming president Let tinubu take it ( with all pleasure)!

jlinkd78:
Barth Nnaji one of great Persons I have tremendous respect for

Saw his interview on AriseTV few days ago....the gentleman just oozed calmness, class and intelligence! I doubt if i’d have remained that calm when talking of the blatant injustice done to Geometric electricity coy by the last administration! Imagine bundling in his already ring-fenced and duly acquired Aba electricity generation and distribution network into the agreement signed with that Emeka Offors’ EEDC!

Now Aba can reach for the skies!

IGBOSON1:


Saw his interview on AriseTV few days ago....the gentleman just oozed calmness, class and intelligence! I doubt if i’d have remained that calm when talking of the blatant injustice done to Geometric electricity coy by the last administration! Imagine bundling in his already ring-fenced and duly acquired Aba electricity generation and distribution network into the agreement signed with that Emeka Offors’ EEDC!

Now Aba can reach for the skies!

Wasn't Barth Nnaji the minister of power when nepa was privatized in the previous regime?

ebufa:





jonathan was a minus for the Igbo cause..............The ijaw guy was completely lost in Aso Rock,the fat toad Anyim was SGF while this impunity went on, that is if the fat pig was not an instigator. Rather than Anyim becoming president Let tinubu take it ( with all pleasure)!

This is also my stand. Can you imagine the person endorsing anyim? Criminal t.a orji. That man was the worst thing to happen to abia state. Anyim was literally there for himself and did nothing for his village talk more of ndigbo

JavaScript90:


This is also my stand. Can you imagine the person endorsing anyim? Criminal t.a orji. That man was the worst thing to happen to abia state. Anyim was literally there for himself and did nothing for his village talk more of ndigbo

We will support any Igbo man Ayim or whoever. Any Igbo from South East is Igbo, if the North can support a dead vegetable, we Igbos will and must support our own.

I wish the whole Eastern governors can work with Barth Nnaji to finally sort the power issues in the East. The man knows his onions and is seriously committed to this course. This is the same man that was fired by Jonathan in the height of his political naivety, all in the bid to appease his "northern allies" with the privatization of NEPA. When you fire your best minister just for pecuniary interests, it means you don't know your left from your right..

omaclarry:


We will support any Igbo man Ayim or whoever. Any Igbo from South East is Igbo, if the North can support a dead vegetable, we Igbos will and must support our own.

This is another angle to it. I seriously don't like the performance of anyim and t.a orji endorsing him is like adding sa lol salt to injury. Maybe I am better off voting yul edochie or any igbo man in smaller parries

IGBOSON1:


Saw his interview on AriseTV few days ago....the gentleman just oozed calmness, class and intelligence! I doubt if i’d have remained that calm when talking of the blatant injustice done to Geometric electricity coy by the last administration! Imagine bundling in his already ring-fenced and duly acquired Aba electricity generation and distribution network into the agreement signed with that Emeka Offors’ EEDC!

Now Aba can reach for the skies!

Emeka offor is not even the true owner of that EEDC. The Oraifite fat toad is just holding it down for Namadi Sambo and his Kaduna brothers.

First good news of the year

omaclarry:


We will support any Igbo man Ayim or whoever. Any Igbo from South East is Igbo, if the North can support a dead vegetable, we Igbos will and must support our own.

We will not support every Igbo man!
That mentality is exactly why we are where we are today..
Every other section of the country is bringing out their brute, their crook, their most audacious thief, to help them loot the nation in this turn by turn lootocracy and you want to bring out proxy politicians in the East, that are representing foreign interests as the Eastern candidates!? It's counter productive

Rugaria:

We will not support every Igbo man!
That mentality is exactly why we are where we are today..
Every other section of the country is bringing out their brute, their crook, their most audacious thief, to help them loot the nation in this turn by turn lootocracy and you want to bring out proxy politicians in the East, that are representing foreign interests as the Eastern candidates!? It's counter productive

My guy we will support any Igbo man from South east after we have done our turn we can now sit down as an entity and elect credible leaders. Not after other tribes have presented dust as leaders, when it get to our turn they now want integrity or nothing.

ABA emerges first mayor in Nigerians to do 24 days power

Congratulations Prof Nnaji...


This should be the best path to toe for the country to have stable electricity.

Let the govt unbundle these Distribution Companies and even the generating ones and grant them to national and international firms that are competent to manage them efficiently. It most not be the whole region or state, just a part of a state or region can be alloted to a competent firm to transform...

This is really very impressive hope the federal government won't later order them to be sending whatever they generate to the national greed according to nigerian power laws?

omaclarry:


We will support any Igbo man Ayim or whoever. Any Igbo from South East is Igbo, if the North can support a dead vegetable, we Igbos will and must support our own.

you are on your own............tinubu is a couple of levels higher than that "charge and bail lawyer" that OBJ picked from nowhere! a complete misfit! under his purview, Nigeria signed a loan for 4 new international airport terminals....and Enugu was not included( the new terminal in enugu is being built from ministry funds)....SGF was igbo and aviation minister was igbo too....talk about being clueless.....Anyim is a complete buffoon!

gwafaeziokwu:


It was those principalities and powers that handed over licence to EEDC in 2015 when they already know that Geometric Power have a pre-existing license for the Aba axis. Thereby creating unnecessary confusion and delays in turning Aba into the massive industrial hub it should be.

Thanks to the tenacity of Barth Nnaji. Now ndi Aba can smile.

Unfortunately, those principalities never get tired; they fight day and night even whilst we sleep.

ebufa:




you are on your own............tinubu is a couple of levels higher than that "charge and bail lawyer" that OBJ picked from nowhere! a complete misfit! under his purview, Nigeria signed a loan for 4 new international airport terminals....and Enugu was not included( the new terminal in enugu is being built from ministry funds)....SGF was igbo and aviation minister was igbo too....talk about being clueless.....Anyim is a complete buffoon!

The mind boggles, walahi!