Grace Omachoko
President Bola Tinubu is set to inaugurate the 188MW Geometric power plant located in the Osisioma Industrial Layout of Aba, Abia State, on Monday, barring any last-minute changes.
Initially scheduled for inauguration on Saturday, February 24, the new date was chosen by the Presidency in Abuja due to unexpected developments, according to a statement from the company’s management.
During the inauguration, President Tinubu will commission the thermal plant alongside Aba Power Limited, which will distribute electricity from the new plant to nine out of the 17 local government areas in Abia State.
Cliff Eneh, an energy consultant in Lagos, expressed pride in the support the Federal Government has been giving to the Geometric Power Integrated Company, which will generate and distribute its own power.
Managing Director Ben Caven described the power plant as the largest investment in the South-East, revealing that the company had invested $800 million in its integrated power project. This project includes building a 27km natural gas pipeline from Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area to the Osisioma Industrial Layout in Aba.
Caven further stated that the company had installed 150,000km of cables and wires and erected four new power substations while refurbishing three others inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
Recalled that, the Geometric Power Group, founded by Professor Bart Nnaji, former Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Power, embarked on the integrated project after a visit by the then World Bank President James Wolfensohn and former Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to Aba on March 17, 2004. During the visit, they discovered that epileptic power supply was the greatest challenge facing both large-scale and medium-scale industrialists in Aba.