Ibrahim MomohDr Kenny Adeniran’s widely circulated “Geometric Power and the Yoruba Omoluabi” makes compelling reading. It brings an entirely fresh perspective on the national discourse on the place and importance of Nigeria’s first integrated power project in national development.
The author argues that even though the recently commissioned 188-megawatt Geometric Power thermal plant is located in Abia State, like the Aba Power Electric Company which takes power from the plant and distributes to nine of the 17 local government areas in the state, Yoruba persons in government have over the last two decades gone out of their way to ensure the realization of this key electricity project.
He posits that these Nigerians of Yoruba extraction are driven by the Yoruba philosophical concept of omoluabi, or strong commitment to the public good rather than parochial or personal interests.
The instances that Dr Adeniran cites are interesting enough. Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, following a request by then-World President James Wolfensohn and then-Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, carved out Aba from the national electricity network to generate its own power, distribute it, and collect money from the people, so as to fulfill Aba’s enormous potential as an industrial centre. This was at a time when both subnational governments and the private sector were not allowed to participate in the generation, transmission, and distribution of power. President Obasanjo’s concession to Professor Bart Nnaji and his team at Geometric Power is historic and path-breaking.
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Dr Adeniran recalls how the Yoruba Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Bola Onagoruwa, lost her job during the privatization of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in 2013 because she wanted the National Council on Privatization (NCP) to respect the Federal Government’s 2005 agreement with Geometric Power on the development of the Aba Ring-fenced Area. It is, indeed, interesting that the mess created by the manner the EEDC was privatized was resolved by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Power Minister Babatunde Fashola, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs). As Dr Adeniran has revealed, both President Bola Tinubu and Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu acknowdge Geometric Power’s critical role in Nigeria’s power development and have ensured that relevant Federal Government agencies are on the same page.
The ordinary interpretation and summary of Dr Adeniran’s article is that Geometric Power is a key national project sited in Aba, Southeastern Nigeria, and that successive Yoruba people in government have demonstrated a profound understanding of this fact. The truth is that while Prof Nnaji and his team may come from the Southeast, the Aba Independent Power Project (IPP) is a huge national asset. It will definitely benefit Nigerians in all parts of the country.
Power Minister Adelabu and Prof Nnaji as well as Governor Alex Otti of Abia State have stated that Aba and the environs may not absorb more than 90MW right now. Therefore, the excess of 51MW, or 98MW as the case may be, will be sent to the national grid. This will mean improved power availability throughout the country. What is more, the 25MW hitherto supplied Aba from the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) via the national grid will be taken to other parts of Nigeria, thereby making more electricity available to the Nigerian people.
