A Glimmer of Hope From Abia

Amid intermittent travel advisories by Western diplomatic missions in the country to their citizens on visiting parts of the country because of the nationwide security challenges, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, on Tuesday, August 21, 2024, led a delegation to the $800m Aba Independent Power Project built by the Geometric Power group. Though the news media have not provided the reason for the visit, it is likely to be about Aba’s growing stature as an industrial and economic centre following the commissioning of the 188megawatt Geometric Power Plant in Aba and the embedded distribution firm, the Aba Power Electric Company. The commissioning was on Monday, February 26, 2024, by Vice President Kashim Shettima who stood in for President Bola Tinubu.

It is axiomatic that media reports about insecurity in the Southeast, especially Abia State in recent times, are sexed up, as former American President Bill Clinton would famously put it. Of course, no one can dispute that five soldiers were murdered last May 30 in Aba by non-state actors. In the same manner, none can dispute that two policemen on legitimate duties were later killed in the same city. However, it has not been gloom and doom, at least on the economic front. Multinationals are thriving in Aba, but no one talks about them because, as the saying goes, bad news travels fast and stays long.

Geometric Power is reviving hope in Aba’s economy, thanks to the considerable support it has been receiving from the Abia State government under Dr Alex Otti’s leadership. There are, however, reports that uninterrupted power supply in Aba has not yet been attained on account of inadequate natural gas supply to the Geometric Power Plant which built a 27-kilometre gas pipeline from Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area to the Osisioma Industrial Estate in Aba where Geometric Power is located. According to authoritative reports published in Businessday and other respectable media in the last 10 years, Geometric Power, founded by erstwhile Power Minister Bart Nnaji, signed the gas supply agreement with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for the supply of 40 million standard cubic feet of gas (MSCF) for its four turbines built by General Electric (GE) of the United States, the world’s oldest and greatest electricity equipment manufacturing firm.

Each GE turbine used by Geometric Power can generate 47MW, and each needs 10MSCF to fire. Three have been installed, meaning that 30MSCF is required for their operation. Aba and its environs currently do not need more than 100MW, suggesting that Geometric Power does not require more than 20MSCF to fire two turbines to produce 94MW. Yet, it signed in 2009 for 40MSCF. Why? According to Dike Ejike, a mechanical engineer who is an Abuja-based business and engineering consultant, the third turbine is meant to assist the rest of the country by delivering some 47MW to the national grid. A fourth turbine will be installed when the need arises, bringing the total natural gas requirement for the 188MW to 40MSCF.

Shell, like some other international oil companies (IOCs) such as ExxonMobil, has abandoned onshore and shallow offshore operations in the country due to oil theft, attacks by militants, and community issues. In other words, Shell which was operating Oil Mining Licences (OMLs) 11 and 17 where gas is supplied to the 188MW Geometric Power Plant, has since sold its interests to local operators. The OML 17 local operator is, unfortunately, having challenges affecting its ability to provide gas to the electricity-generating plant.

Engr Ejike has disclosed that the operator has not been able to provide more than 10MSCF to Geometric Power. The consequence is that Geometric Power has been augmenting the electricity it has been generating and supplying to the Aba people by importing power from the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) so as not to disappoint its customers. According to Ejike, the NDPHC presents a bill of at least two billion naira (N2b) every month to the plant!

There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel for the Aba people and their businesses. Cliff Eneh, a former senior manager with the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) who used to work with the Texas Power and Light in Dallas in the United States, has explained that both the Federal Government and the Abia State government are working tirelessly and closely with Geometric Power and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to get a reputable multinational firm to provide sufficient gas to the Geometric Power Plant before the end of September. Once the gas supply issue which, is resolved, Aba will finally achieve the status of the first city in the nation to have constant, quality, and affordable electricity.

This attainment will have significant socioeconomic implications for the whole of Nigeria. The British government, through such Nigeria’s development partners as the Department for International Development (DFID), has been working hard over the years for the resolution of Nigeria’s perennial power problem. It is, therefore, understandable why His Excellency, High Commissioner Montgomery, the British High Commission to Nigeria, led a delegation to the Geometric Power group on Tuesday, August 21. There is still hope for Nigeria. Geometric Power and Abia State are showing the light, and the Nigerian people will ultimately find the way.