Jonathan Inaugurates Phase One of Alaoji Power Plant

Promises to resolve issues holding down Geometrics   Nebo: Nigeria’s generation  capacity now 5,500MW   APC backs power sector privatisation

President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday inaugurated the 504MW Phase I of the 1,074MW combined cycle Alaoji power plant built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) to bring up to 2,188MW, the contributions of the NIPPs plants to national power generation so far.

Flanked by top officials of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the event in Aba, Abia State, Jonathan also reiterated his commitment to advance the frontiers of inclusive economic development in Nigeria with continuous upgrade of the country’s electricity system amongst other economic enablers.

Shortly before his official inauguration of the plant, the president noted that Nigeria’s overall development remained  possible with the commitment of Nigerians. And in making reference to the work of the indigenous Engineering, Procurement and Contracting (EPC) contractor of the plant, Rockson Engineering, he called it a commitment to the building  of the fortunes of the country.
“Power is key to development and without power micro, small and medium enterprises cannot do well and that is the focus of this administration.

“If small businesses will generate their own power, then their returns will be minimal and their turnover will be too low, that is why we are totally committed and promise that the second phase will be completed. We will work together to transform this country, we will work together to move this country forward,” Jonathan said.

He noted that but for his intervention in 2007, the Alaoji power plant could have been abandoned when a report falsely indicted it.

“Inaugurating this 504MW  today is a moment I will always remember because as mentioned by the minister of power, while as a vice-president, there was a report about this project and the government was to abandon the project because the information that got to us was disturbing but I insisted on inspecting this physically because if government has put in so much money in the project, how do we just abandon it and so I came here and observed that the report was different from what was on ground and we had to continue with the project,” he noted.

He also said with regards to the EPC contractor and contributions of indigenous engineering firms in the country’s power sector that: “I have to thank Rockson Engineering for the work they have done and I am quite pleased that today we are commissioning this first phase and the completion of the second phase will increase the capacity of the plant.”

After inaugurating the Alaoi power station, President Jonathan visited the Geometric power station being built by Geometric Power Limited, a private investor.

He promised to resolve the issues that had been holding down the power station which has been completed but yet to become operational following a mistake made during the privatisation of the power sector.

Mr. President also held a town hall meeting with the business community and other stakeholders at the Aba Sports Club where he pledged federal intervention in revamping the infrastructure of the commercial city of Aba.

Also, the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, in his remarks noted that the country had upgraded its electricity generation capacity to 5,500MW, with the inauguration of four NIPP power plants: Alaoji, Olorunsogo Phase Two, Omotosho and Geregu.

Earlier, the Managing Director of NDPHC, James Olotu, said in his brief on the plant’s configuration,  that with the 504MW phase one segment of the 1074MW Alaoji combined cycle power station in Umuobasiukwu, Alaiyi of Abia State, now brings the total power generation contribution of the NIPPs to 2188MW so far.

Olotu explained that the 504MW output from the power plant comprises of four gas turbines units of 126.1MW capacity each and located adjacent to the existing Alaoji 330kV transmission station owned by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“Construction work on the outstanding 570MW steam turbines is continuing and when completed, will bring the entire capacity of the Alaoji power plant to 1,074MW, the largest among the 10 NIPP power stations.

Power from the plant will be wheeled out via Alaoji-Owerri-Onitsha transmission loop and the ongoing Alaoji-Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit lines to the rest of the country’s grid system,” Olotu said.

He added that the entire first phase of the transmission loop from Alaoji through the upgraded Owerri substation, Ikot Ekpene, Ugwuaji, Enugu, Benue and Plateau is scheduled to be completed by May 2015,  while the second double circuit transmission lines and substation passing from a new Alaoji switch-yard through the existing Alaoji substation to Owerri and all the way to Nnewi and Onitsha in Anambra State, would upon completion, help to transmit potential electricity generated from this axis to the rest of the country.

According to Olotu, gas supply to the plant is currently from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Accugas with additional supplies also expected from Total soon.

At full capacity, the Alaoji plant is designed to consume approximately 230 million standard cubic feet (mscuf) of gas per day for power generation.

Meanwhile, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Muhammed, has said the party is not against privatisation in the power  power sector, as implemented by the federal government.

Muhammed said this  yesterday in Abuja during the manifesto session of the Nigeria Political Party Debates Series (NPPDS), organised by Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in collaboration with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

He explained that the APC having pioneered construction of Independent power station in Lagos state under former governor Bola Tinubu, would not turn around to castigate the policy.

He added that Edo State, which is another APC state was working to deliver a 450mw power station at the cost of $1 billion, through a private sector initiative.

“Don’t make mistake about it, we are not against any privatisation of power or that of any sector, after all, we pioneered the first independent power plant in Lagos in 1999, and, as we are speaking, Edo State, another APC state is working on a 450, megawatts  power station at ther cost of about $1 billion,” he said.

However, the presidential campaign office of the party yesterday debunked reports that its standard  bearer, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), promised to equate naira to a dollar if voted into office.

The Deputy Director in charge of Policy and Strategy for the campaign organisation, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, who made the clarification during the debate, said the party would formally complain to the news medium that reported the story.
Abdulahgi said Buhari only described the economic situation where the value of the naira dropped to N230 as unacceptable.

“On the issue of Buhari saying that he will bring naira at par with dollar, I want to say it clearly here that Buhari never said so. He did not say so. If you are implying on the media report, I want to say that we are protesting to the media organisation that reported that. If you read the body of the story, you would have noticed that there was nothing in the body of the report that quoted that as saying, ‘I will bring naira at par with dollar.’ He only said it is unacceptable that dollar will be exchanging for N230,” he said.