Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday presented a discharge certificate to the chairman of Transcorp Power Limited, Tony Elumelu, who is the major investor in the Ughelli Power Plant.
The Punch reported that during this presentation which was held in Abuja, Osinbanjo highlighted the need for significant private-sector investment in Nigeria’s power sector to meet the country’s increasing energy demands.
The vice president also remarked that the power needs of Nigeria are serious and privatisation of the power sector is the best approach. He urged other private sector players to emulate the example set by Transcorp Power Limited and invest in power plants that are unable to meet the expectations of the post-evaluation plans.
The National Council on Privatisation approved the recommendations of the Bureau of Public Enterprise to delist Ughelli Power Plc from routine monitoring.
This approval came a month after Transcorp Power Limited, the core investor in the Ughelli Power Plant, had satisfied five major post-acquisition requirements: available capacity, capital expenditure, human resources, health, safety and environment, and corporate social responsibility.
The Ughelli Power Plant was commissioned in 1966 with an installed capacity of 972MW, but its capacity has dropped to 300MW. In 2013, the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc acquired the power plant under its power subsidiary, Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited.
According to the BPE Director-General, Alex Okoh, the Bureau of Public Enterprise has been carrying out post-acquisition monitoring and evaluation on the facility since its acquisition a decade ago.
Osinbajo emphasized that privatisation of the power sector would enable serious-minded private sector players to invest in the provision of public power and ensure efficiency while making a profit at the same time.
He stated, “The power needs of our country are grave. And we strongly believe that the right approach is the privatisation of the power sector to enable serious-minded private sector players to invest in the provision of public power and ensure that they are efficient while they make a profit at the same time.”
He hoped that other private power companies would follow the example of Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited and take over power plants that are unable to meet post-evaluation plans.
Commending the company the VP said, “It has covenants and deliverables which the enterprise is supposed to live up to. And we found, in this case, that Transcorp Power PLC has done exactly that. We have been able to ensure compliance with all of the deliverables and, in some cases, even exceeding the covenanted deliverables in the PAP.”
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise explained that the discharge certificate was necessary because an evaluation showed that the Ughelli Power Plant’s generation capacity had grown by 227% under Transcorp Power in a decade.
According to the DG BPE, the available capacity of the power plant had reached 680.8 megawatts, which exceeded the minimum performance target of 670 megawatts. Additionally, the company had fulfilled all the agreed obligations on human resources, health, safety, environment, and corporate social responsibility, and had exceeded the capital expenditure covenant of N58.6bn with actual investments of N83.85bn.
As a result, the National Council on Privatisation approved the recommendations of the Bureau to delist Ughelli Power Plc from routine monitoring.
In response, the Chairman of Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited, Mr Tony Elumelu, highlighted the company’s indigenisation plan that ensures the power plant is entirely managed and operated by Nigerians.
He said, “Mr Vice President, let me also say that in addition to the criteria set, we actually are doing a very strong indigenisation of Transcorp Power Plc. I’m proud to say that our power plant is managed and operated 100 per cent by Nigerians.
“We at Transcorp Group recognise the importance of improved access to electricity. We know that with improved access to electricity, people can go to school, hospitals can function well, businesses can operate very well and most importantly can empower the industrialisation of our country.
“This is why we invested in power and continue to invest in the power sector because we know it holds the key largely to the success of our country.”
