The inaugurated 188-megawatt geometric power plant in Aba, Abia state, no doubt will accelerate power supply to industrial clusters in the region.
Inaugurated on Monday, February 26 by Vice President Kasim Shettima who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the power plant, reckoned as the first integrated electricity facility in Nigeria.
It is located in the Osisioma industrial area of the south-eastern state.
By the planning, it expected that Aba Power Limited Electric, a new electricity distribution company (DisCo), will take electricity from the plant and supply it to nine local government areas — out of 17 — in Abia state.
The power firm has expended by way of investment about $800 million on its integrated power project in uilding of a 27-kilometre natural gas pipeline, from Owaza in Ukwa West LGA in Abia to the Osisioma industrial layout in Aba among others infrastructure.
Highlighting the importance of the private sector energy investment initiative, Governor Alex Otti of Abia state said the industrial output from Aba and its environs will triple and create millions of new jobs.
Otti said the success of the power project will send a clear signal to local and international investors that Aba is open for business.
“When I first saw the proposal for geometric integrated power plant, I knew I had to be involved immediately because, if just 50 percent of what had been proposed could be achieved, the industrial output from this great city and this environs would triple and millions of new jobs will be created directly and indirectly in the short to medium term,” He said.
Otti further urged residents of Abia state to pay their electricity bills when due.
According to the governor, there must be no attempt to sabotage the revenue flow to the company “because project like this requires steady cash flow for effective operations including payment for gas supplies.”
He also urged community leaders to work closely with security agents to guide against any form of vandalisation of critical supply or distribution infrastructure either for reasons of criminality or willful sabotage.
Earlier, Barth Nnaji, chairman of Geometric Power Group, attributed the location of the $800m Geometric Power Plant in Aba to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the late James Wolfohnson.
Nnaji disclosed this during a recent convened leadership colloquium on “Igbo Leadership and Development.”
He said, “After the visit in 2004, the duo asked me to consider building a 50-megawatt power plant in Abia for manufacturers, both big ones like the Star Paper Mill and small ones like the hundreds of excellent shoemakers and clothiers at the famous Ariaria Market.
“They approached me obviously because I had led a small team of dedicated Nigerian engineers and entrepreneurs to build a 22megawatt Emergency Plant in Abuja in 2001 for the supply of electricity to State House, the NNPC headquarters, the Abuja Business District, and other places.
“I acceded to the request by Okonjo-Iweala and Wolfohnson. What the two did not realize was that my enthusiastic acceptance was because the plant would be located in Aba. This city has a special place in the heart and mind of every person interested in our country’s rapid progress: It is the home of indigenous manufacturing, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
“Geometric Power Limited is making its contribution to help reclaim the old economic days of the Great Zik of Africa, M.I. Okpara, and many others. Once Geometric Power addresses the electricity challenge in nine out of 17 local government areas in Abia State fully, not even the sky will be the limit of the attainments of the people and government of Abia State. Abia can set the stage of development miracle which has been waiting to happen.”
Nnaji also revealed that if the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant in Aba and the Aba Power distribution company in Osisioma Industrial Layout had been situated in Ikeja, the Ilupeju Industrial Estate in Lagos State, the Agbara Industrial Layout in Ogun State, or somewhere in the vicinity of the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, they would have been more profitable ventures.
Nnaji also said, “The return on investment would have been quicker and bigger (in these locations). However, we would have missed the strategic reason for locating both the generation and distribution arms of Geometric Power Group. Only the investors and promoters of Geometric Power would have benefitted directly, but the people and governments of Ala-Igbo would be the losers.”
He stated that his firsthand experience of what industrialists in Igbo land were going through was another reason why he chose to build the plant.
“As a professor of manufacturing engineering in the United States in the 1990s, I decided to build a plant in Emene, Enugu, to produce vehicle spare parts, including engines, of the highest standard in the world. After all, I had watched my former students from Taiwan and other places in Southeast Asia rush home to produce sophisticated auto parts and engines.
“So, we purchased a large swath of land for this purpose, but when my South Korean partners visited Enugu, it became obvious that the project would not take off principally because of poor electricity. While I was thinking of how to help resolve the electricity problem in Ala Igbo, Okonjo-Iweala and Wolfohnson made the request. The rest is history,” Nnaji added.
Nnaji described the journey in the words of Winston Churchill, former British prime minister, “it has since 2004 been tears, sweat, and blood.”
“I don’t want to tell the story of sweat, blood, and tears now; all I can say now is the game is worth the candle. Nothing can give as much fulfillment and satisfaction as working wholeheartedly for your people,” he added.
