The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, on Monday, declared that liquidity was the major solution required to end the perennial problems facing the power sector.
This was as the Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Mr Chiedu Ugbo, informed the Senate Committee on Power that the Calabar Power Generation Company under its ownership, is the best-performing power plant in Nigeria.
Edun made the declaration in his submission to the Senate Committee investigating the controversial Makeup Gas (MUG) reprocessing deal involving the Ministry of Finance, NDPHC, Calabar Generation Company Limited and ACUGAS Limited.
The Minister, who made the submission through his Special Assistant, Mallam Dahiru Moyi, said 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.
He said: “Just as the Ministry of Justice was not aware of the contract agreement, the Ministry of Finance was also not part of it from the beginning but since government is a continuum the Ministry of Finance later came into it for the purpose of facilitating the required liquidity.
“The issues on the ground about contracts agreements being investigated by the Senate Committee on Power is 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 Gas in Dollars, the Ministry is collaborating with it for the practical solution of bringing liquidity into the age-long contract agreement through a Deed of Transfer.
“Makeup Gas ( MUG) belongs to Calabar, Calabar belongs to NDPHC and NDPHC belongs to Federal and State governments with the Federal Government having 52.68%”, he said.
Making his own submission before the Committee, the Managing Director of NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, said that the company as a result of the Gas supply agreement with ACUGAS Limited, was taking Gas from three out of five units and generating power from the Calabar plant to the National Grid which according to him, is the best power plant in the entire country.
Ugbo said that the NDPHC went out of its way to construct an 80-kilometre gas pipeline for utilization of MUG in Calabar and Alaoji power plants.
He, however, lamented that problems relating to systemic transition, frequency and voltage issues, had hindered the firm from achieving the desired results.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia South), thanked the stakeholders for giving the Committee clarity on the issue, pointing out that the investigation was still ongoing.
New Telegraph
