Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, said sufficient liquidity would solve the challenge of power supply.
He spoke on Monday at a one-day public hearing on power, chaired by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, where the Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, declared, before the Senate Committee on Power, that the Calabar Power Generation Company is the best-performing power plant in the country.
The committee was investigating the controversial Make Up Gas, MUG, reprocessing deal involving the Ministry of Finance, NDPHC, Calabar Generation Company Limited and ACUGAS Limited.
Speaking through his Special Assistant, Mallam Dahiru Moyi, the minister submitted that the agreement on gas supply between NPDHC and ACUGAS Limited was inherited by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 since it was signed in 2011 during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
The Finance Minister revealed that the ministries of Justice and Finance were not aware of the agreement but got involved in ensuring its implementation midway since government is a continuum.
According to him: “The issues on ground about contract agreements being investigated by the Senate Committee on Power are not about restructuring but providing the required liquidity, which the Ministry of Finance is doing through collaboration with the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas, NLNG.
“Since NLNG pays for gas in dollars, the Ministry is collaborating with it for a practical solution of bringing liquidity into the age-long contract agreement through a Deed of Transfer.”
In his submission, the Managing Director of NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, said the company, as a result of the gas supply agreement with ACUGAS Limited, is taking gas from three out of five units and generating power from the Calabar plant for the National Grid, which, according to him, is the best power plant in the entire country.
He said NDPHC went out of its way to construct an 80-kilometre gas pipeline for the utilisation of MUG in the Calabar and Alaoji power plants.
“Make Up Gas (MUG) belongs to Calabar and NDPHC; and NDPHC belongs to federal and state governments, with the federal government having 52.68%,” he said.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, thanked the stakeholders for giving the committee clarity on the issue but added that it is still an ongoing investigation.
Liquidity needed to solve power challenges – Finance Minister Edun
