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By Fred Edoreh

Agreed, politics is allowed, but we must not necessarily destroy our state for mere populism and personal political calculations, or how else can one describe the recent attack on the Delta State Governor, His Excellency, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, by Senator Ned Nwoko, representing the very good people of Delta North.

The distinguished Senator, in a meeting with stakeholders of his district, tried to create disaffection against the Governor for allegedly refusing his lobby to provide N35 billion to the contractors for the completion of Phase II of the Okpai Power Plant, a project of the federal authority and its joint venture partners.

There is no doubt that the completion of the project would, hopefully, benefit the state, particularly communities of Delta North District, especially with the order by President Olusegun Obasanjo during the commissioning of the Phase I in 2005, that 50 megawatts of its output should be reserved for communities within 50 kilometres radius of the installation, and the subsequent advise that that quantity should be increased to 100 megawatts, which would support the electrification of a good part of Delta North.

Unfortunately, this has not been effected for reasons only known to the project owners and the Federal Government. Therefore, on the surface, it would appear that that prospect is what Senator Nwoko is pursuing, but he betrayed a different intention with his misguided shot at Governor Oborevwori.

For the benefit of members of the public who may not be conversant with the facts surrounding the project, the Okpai Power Plant, with various phases and units, is owned 60 percent by the NNPC Limited with ConocoPhillips and EniPower each holding 20 percent equity at the start. From the project plan, the power generated would be sold to the PHCN under a 20-year purchase agreement.

Interestingly, by the design and business plan, the power generated is transported directly to the National Grid through the side of the River Niger to serve the FCT and about eight other states in the country, without a step down in Delta State in which it is hosted.

The issue, however, is that the Phase II of the project and other expansion and step down plans have been stalled. This has elicited several industry questions for over a decade now, and recently became a subject of investigation by the House of Representatives.

A 2020 BusinessDay report about the plant indicated that it is not being utilized in full capacity because the owners have “been unable to sign any power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nigerian Electricity Bulk Trader (NBET), which would have been able to encourage the evacuation of the power through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to distribution companies.”

“Other reasons the operators of the plant may not be pushing aggressively for the PPA may be because of grid inadequacies and the fear that distribution companies are rejecting power,” the report also stated.

While that situation may still persist, there are even more worrisome issues for which the House of Representatives had to mandate an investigation early in 2024.

As was briefed the House in the motion moved by Hon Nnamdi Ezechi, representing Ndokwa/Ukwani Federal Constituency, while the expansion of the project was commenced in 2017 and has attained almost 90 percent completion, it seems to have been abandoned by the contractors, Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited and Agip Oil Company, resulting in the dilapidation of the infrastructure.

Worse is, as the House was told, “there is ambiguity surrounding the project’s contract amount, casting doubt on accountability and transparency in its execution.”

Based on these revelations, the House ordered an investigation, the report of which has not been publicly declared. Also, neither the NNPCL, the Federal Government, the Minister of Power, the multinational equity partners nor even the National Assembly have made any concrete and categorical statements on the way forward.

It is under this situation and confusion that Ned Nwoko is demanding that Governor Oborevwori should provide N35 billion for the contractors.

According to him, he had approached the Minister of Budget and Planning to provide the fund but the Minister said that will not be possible until next year. Consequently, he wants the Governor to provide the fund in the meantime, so that work can recommence, saying that is what he will do if he was Governor, but that Governor Oborevwori also said there is no such money.

In his estimation, the state has so much money, being that it earns the highest from FAAC, and there is no reason why the Governor should refuse to fund the NNPCL/NOAC Independent Power Plant project. He further went on with the oft repeated propaganda and blackmail by the opposition that Oborevwori is only deploying the state funds to repay loans taken under former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, not minding the various inherited and newly initiated projects going on across the state.

With due respect to the Distinguished Senator, some things must be made clear, and first is that Oborevwori cannot be led by the nose into unplanned and unbudgeted ploughing of state funds into private projects with clearly difficult history, no matter the calculated political propaganda and blackmail deployed.

Governor Oborevwori has never hidden the fact that the state currently enjoys increased FAAC allocation, and he should be given credit for maintaining the peace in the creeks and oil producing communities, also at huge cost, for the stable and increased crude production from which the increased allocation derives.

Even at that, it is well known, except for pretenders and political hawks, that the value of the so called increased allocation is also eroded by the prevailing hyper inflation, especially as it affects construction of projects.

Therefore the government must be clear-headed, prudent, careful, targeted and tactful in the management and deployment of its revenue on planned projects and programmes across the three Senatorial Districts. It does not have to take on every responsibility of the federal government for just the mention of it, even without examining the project history and current management issues.

As clearly stated, the Power Plant is owned jointly by the Federal Government through the NNPC, which now is a privately registered limited liability company, and some multinational oil majors which are equally private entities, and by no strength of imagination can the state be said to be richer than those concerns which have refused or are neglecting to continue the needed investment on their project.

Even at that, the power company has not shown any good faith and social responsibility, especially by neglecting, ab initio, to provide a step down in Delta State while it evacuates the power generated from Okpai unto the National Grid to serve other parts of the country.

It is also really curious why Nwoko will want Governor Oborevwori to throw an unbudgeted N35 billion into a project which has been described at the House of Representatives as surrounded by “ambiguity in its contract amount” and deficient in accountability and transparency in its execution.

It is more so that it is neither the owners, the NNPCL which is the majority shareholder and the partner oil companies, nor the contractors nor the Minister of Power and Energy, nor the Federal Government that is approaching and asking the state to come into the partnership. Just Ned asking Oborevwori to give the contractors N35 billion to work with “in the meantime,” whatever that means.

He did not explain whether the fund is to be a loan, an equity shareholding or dash. He also did not explain, if the owners of the project are convinced about the need for the fund and the urgency, why they have not or cannot approach the banks and other institutions to raise the fund, given their financial capacity and credit worthiness as big businesses.

Perhaps, if Ned was Governor, he can do so by his personal character, but he should also see that other persons cannot be and act like him, and that is certainly not how to run government or even do business. Really, it will take some high level of financial recklessness, except in service of possible pecuniary interest, for a Governor to invest in such muddle.

However, no one is in doubt of the calculated attempt to cause ethnic and district division in Delta State, possibly for projected political expectations. The attack could only possibly imply one blackmail: making it seem that Governor Oborevwori does not want to invest in a project which is expected to benefit Anioma. It could as well be a first shot towards what is to come. Time will surely reveal.

However, as we all know, the Federal Government only recently unbundled power generation, transmission and distribution to allow the states to play more actively in the sector, and each state is to be left to decide, in its wisdom, how to go about the provision of electricity for its citizenry.

It can choose to partner on existing projects or with existing companies, like Delta State does have equity in BEDC, or to build separate private partnerships to establish new generation, transmission and distribution concerns, even with diverse clean energy sources and business modules.

As Senator Nwoko would know, the federal power agency is said to be owing independent power producers about N1.3 trillion on electricity generated and sold to it, out of which only about N205 billion was recently paid, and over N1 trillion still outstanding. While one wonders how the sub-sector is coping, and why any subregional government would rush into such a relationship.

With the lethargy of the established and wealthy equity partners, NNPCL and NOAC, to invest their funds in pursuit of the full completion and operation of their project, the low enthusiasm by the FG to do the same, and all that being said about ambiguity in the contract amount, the lack of accountability and transparency on the project, it is curious that Ned would be putting pressure on Governor Oborevwori to quickly pump state fund into the project. This is even when, according to him, the Budget Minister has said he would provide funds for the project next year. What then is the basis of the current brazen haste?

Perhaps, Ned needs to come to clearer terms with the essence of having Senators at the Federal level, to understand that his area to chase is the organisation and functioning of the federal system and its institutions as they relate to the service of his constituency and state.

This presupposes that besides making federal laws, his lobby should be on how to move the federal system and its relevant institutions to provide for his constituency and state, not the other way round, by asking his state government to fund the projects of the federal government, its institutions and their multinational partners.

Notwithstanding his wrong call, the unnecessary outburst and misdirected attack on the Governor, his concern is not missed, hopefully in seeking ways for sufficient electricity coverage of his constituency. If that be it, he can be sure that Governor Oborevwori is even more concerned and certainly working on plans to act and deliver more responsibly towards meeting the electricity needs of the people, North, South and Central. It is the reason why the State House of Assembly recently amended its legislation on Power, empowering the Executive to take determined actions. It must not necessarily be by being forced or blackmailed into throwing N35 billion into a project and a situation which even the Federal House already feels some ambiguity.