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- Urge VP to Summon Board Meeting
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has summoned the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Joseph Ugbo, to appear before its Committee on Power to explain the current state of the Gbarain power plant.
The House also urged Vice President Kashim Shettima to convene an emergency meeting of the NDPHC board to discuss the resuscitation of the Gbarain Power Plant, aiming to enhance the national grid’s efficiency.
This action followed the adoption of a motion by Oboku Oforji, representing Yenagoa/Opokuma Federal Constituency, Bayelsa State, drawing the House’s attention to the power plant’s state.
In his lead debate, Oforji informed the House that the NDPHC lost the Power Control Module of the Gbarain power plant to a fire incident on November 30, 2020. He expressed dismay that three years later, the NDPHC “has not been able to live up to their responsibility by replacing the Power Control Module which allegedly has been lying redundant in one of its uncompleted stations.”
Oforji highlighted that the Bayelsa State Government offered to take on some responsibilities of the NDPHC, given its significant impact on the state, particularly as the state-owned Niger Delta University relies on the station for electricity.
“The State Government undertook the rehabilitation and restoration of power supply through the 60MVA,132/33KV power transformer which is currently supplying the Gbarain power station auxiliaries and the host communities through the 2×15 MVA33/11KV injection substation which was not functioning before the intervention,” he explained.
He added, “One is prompted to doubt the competence of NDPHC to manage this power plant which has the potential to be the largest power station in the nation because of its comparative advantage over other power plants in its proximity to gas.”
However, the lawmaker noted with concern that “rather than resuscitate the power plant which was built with $400m and valued as of today at over $800m, the management of the NDPHC is proposing to designate the 252MW Open Cycle Power station as a construction site, thereby abandoning its primary responsibility of running it to the benefit of the state, the Niger Delta and the nation at large.”
Oforji emphasized that the development at the power plant poses a risk to the community in the event of a gas pipeline leakage.
“It is the intervention of the Bayelsa State Government that has kept the equipment intact, because they are supposed to be under controlled temperature; if not, they would have exploded,” he stated.
