Consumer Rights Group Kicks Against Proposed Sale of NIPP/NDPHC Power Plants – Newstrends
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Consumer Rights Group Kicks Against Proposed Sale of NIPP/NDPHC Power Plants

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2 years ago

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The Nigeria Consumer Protection Network (NCPN) says the proposed sale of the five National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) assets by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) poses a national security risk.

President of the organisation, Kola Olubiyo, in a statement in Abuja, on Monday noted that the planned disposal of the plants under the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), smacked of national assets stripping at a time the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is winding down.

The BPE recently pre-qualified 16 firms for the privatisation of the five NIPPs, including Geregu, Omotosho, Olorunsogo, Calabar and Benin-Ihovbor.

But the NCPN said it had seen the records of the firms described as the bidders for the NIPP plants, maintaining that some of the firms hardly have any experience in the business of power generation.

“The plants under the NIPP of the NDPHC have always been infrastructure providing power supply and national energy security.

“For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic when the private Generation Companies (Gencos) ramped down electricity generation due to low revenue returns, the NIPPs being public assets, provided Nigeria with the much-needed energy security and its attendant socio-economic stability.

“They increased power supply to avoid economic and administrative shut down in the country.

“The private firms in the power sector so far have not fared better than the NDPHC Gencos which have its gas obligations, gas pipeline assets, contributed to both transmission and distribution networks nationwide,” the group argued.

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Olubiyo, a member of the National Technical Investigative Panel on Power System Collapses/System Stability and Reliability and Presidential Ad-hoc Committee on Review of Electricity Tariff in Nigeria, argued that if at any point other Gencos shut down operations because of legacy debts allegedly owed them, the NIPPS could act as a buffer.

“What BPE and any designated agency of government should be thinking of at the moment is how to optimise the NIPP/NDPHC Gencos so that Nigerians can make the best use of this power sector intervention, as that was what they were designed for.

“The NIPP interventions which cut across the power sector value chain and implemented by NDPHC require that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) would have evaluated them and determined their real value.

“However, for over nine years, NERC has been endlessly doing evaluation of these investment values without result,” the group added.

Without this evaluation to determine the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) in the NIPP power sector intervention projects, NDPHC, it argued, has been continually short-changed of revolving funds that should be re-invested into other power interventions.

“The NCPN at the moment opposes any move to sell off five of the NIPP Gencos for now. We are not saying that the plants would not be sold at the appropriate prices and time in the future.

“But not now, when Nigeria is seriously battling challenges of deliberate load rejection by the Distribution Companies (Discos) and deliberate low energy dispatch by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)

“It is already election time and we believe that even if the five NIPP plants are sold, the proceeds may go into the hands of political cronies,” the NCPN stated.

It argued that selling off the five NIPP plants may not guarantee their optimal performance as the new investors will have to begin a fresh journey of having some levels of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and Vesting Contracts with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET).

However, at the moment, it maintained that the NDPHC has some already signed bilateral contracts for a “Take or Pay” deal for gas supply agreement for some of the Gencos which can come handy.

“We advise the government to join hands with experts and professionals as well as like-minded people within and outside the power sector to come up with a comprehensive mechanism to address the decline in growth.

“As the House of Representatives sit this week to take a deeper look at the issues at stake, the group urged the Special Investigative Committee to look into the basic and fundamental challenges.

“The Nigerian government should also learn from the poor delivery of the 2013 power sector privatisation exercise also carried out by the same BPE,” the group said.

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Aviation

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight 

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13 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight 

 

An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.

The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.

All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.

A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.

Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.

The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.

“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.

“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.

“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”

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Business

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

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14 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).

The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.

“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.

Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.

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He said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the Production War Room team was inaugurated on 25th June 2024, production was at 1.430mbpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into sustaining the production recovery to 1.7mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2mbpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who also congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.

He charged the Company’s Management to come up with a cashflow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3mbpd.

On his part, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team and pledged the Federal Government’s support for the company to do more.

 

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

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Business

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

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14 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

The Federal Government has secured a loan facility of $134million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.

This is contained in a statement issued by Anthonia Eremah, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on Thursday, in Abuja.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made his know at the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State capital.

Kyari explained that with the re-introduction of the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production, the loan would be handy and guarantee national food security in the country.

The minister said the initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.

He said the federal government had declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy access to quality and nutritional food at affordable rates.

Kyari also said government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increase in production of some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.

He added that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season.

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The minister said recently, government supported 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soyabean and cassava farmers under the 2024 wet season across the 37 States including the FCT.

He said Cross River was leading 16 other states in wheat production, adding that over 3000 wheat farmers have been listed to benefit from the support to grow the grain.

Kyari noted the Cross River government’s commitment to wheat production.

He said it informed why the federal government is partnering with the state to kick start the maiden wheat production and enlisting them among states commencing the current 2024/2025 dry season farming.

“The 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidised agricultural inputs.

“This is to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tonnes of wheat to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.

“Equally the programme will provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all the 37 states, including FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tonnes,” he said.

 

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

(NAN)

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