A northern group, Arewa Think Tank, has commended the former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the president/chief executive officer of Geometric Power Plant (GPP), Aba, Prof. Barth Nnaji, and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu for their respective roles in making the establishment and operations of the GPP a reality.
Aba power plant, with the capacity to produce 188 MW of electricity, was started 20 years ago, and it’s expected to supply power to Aba metropolis and eight other local government areas within the Aba ring-fenced area.
Senator Kalu representing Abia North at the upper legislative chamber was said to have granted a waiver to the company while in office as the governor which made it become attractive to investors.
In a statement issued by the chief convener of Arewa Think Tank, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, he recalled the important role the former governor played in bringing the plant to fruition.
Arewa Think Tank also commended the proponent of the Geometric Power Plant, Prof. Barth Nnaji who is the former minister of power during President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The convener said, they have been following progressive events in this country, and consider it appropriate to appreciate the efforts of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, who gave the initial waivers to Geometric Power Plant, thereby, reducing risk of the transaction.
He expressed assurance that if those waivers were not in place, no investor would have taken the risk to invest in such gigantic power generating business.
Yakubu also commended Kalu’s dedication to the Geometric Power Plant and his role at the early stage of the establishment of the plant, adding that without Kalu granting the company waiver at her formative stage, investors wouldn’t have shown interest.
“We also want to commend Prof. Barth Nnaji, the proponent of Geometric Power, Aba, who resigned as Minister of power during the Jonathan administration because of lack of technical expertise in the privatisation process. He insisted that all DisCos must have two things, technical expertise and financial independence to operate, so as to weed out those who wanted to use privatisation to make quick money,” he said.
The Arewa group noted that after he left, many of the DisCos eventually failed due to lack of technical expertise, and the banks they borrowed money from took over the assets.
