INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY IN ABIA AS THE MAJOR DRIVER OF THE PLANNED ACQUISITION OF EEDC: A CLARIFICATION TO DR. ODO IJERE’S SCEPTICISM.
The planned acquisition of 60% equity in EEDC by Abia State Government is deliberate and intentional. The decision to have the majority share is to give the State Government the latitude to lead the efforts in reversing the ‘poorly managed’ EEDC by Interstate Electrics Limited, improve power supply to Abians living around the Umuahia ring-fence and increase productivity/output in Abia State.
Dr. Odo in his article admitted that EEDC is among the worst managed DISCO in Nigeria but failed to point out that Abians are the victims of the poor management.
Abia State Government under Governor Alex Otti resolved to take the advantage of the unbundling of the Power sector from the Exclusive list to lead the way in improving power supply with the acquisition, de-risk the sector to demonstrate confidence and viability for the private sector to come in and subsequently divest for interested private sector players to take over. It is a confidence building measure to attract investors and investments into the sector in Abia State. The State understands that if the DISCO is struggling, the citizens who use the power for domestic use and production will be struggling, and productivity will be very low.
The State armed with the information that generation is the major challenge of DISCOs not just EEDC but across the country, went ahead to explore the possibility of wheeling the excess generated power from Geometric Power Limited in charge of Aba ring-fence to the Umuahia ring-fence when they hit their installed maximum capacity, to solve the domestic power supply problem of Abia than wheeling it to the National grid which may make them loose money.
The State took a step further to ensure due diligence in the planned acquisition without ‘shooting herself on the leg’ by engaging a faculty of consultants to carry out an extensive assessment of EEDC assets in Umuahia ring-fence to ensure a fair deal to all parties in the acquisition. The essence of engaging the consultants is that if the assets are moribund as pointed out by Dr. Odo, the State’s offer for the acquisition of the assets will be moribund value and the State will fix it to work for her people before putting it up for sale to the private sector who can best manage it. The consequences of not doing anything because EEDC is poorly managed and her assets moribund is an Abia with very low gross domestic product (GDP) and struggling citizens.
In the team of the consultants is a representative of Afriexim Bank as possible financiers of the planned acquisition and if Dr. Odo is conversant with Afriexim Bank operations, he can agree that they are not flexible when it comes to investing funds on projects without prospects.
Therefore, the planned acquisition of 60% of EEDC assets by Abia State Government was a well thought-out plan with indepth assessment being conducted by seasoned global consultants who have technical knowledge and experience in the subject area with the interest of Abia and Abians in mind as the priority. The end goal is to improve power supply to the Umuahia ring-fence and make Abia the first State to achieve power efficiency in the Country.
Dr. Odo Ijere should be rest assured that the planned acquisition of EEDC will be a win-win deal for the people of Abia State.
Ctz. UKOHA NJOKU UKOHA
Chief Press Secretary to the Executive Governor of Abia State.
16-02-2025.
