By Stehen Ubanna
With barely six years, after Rumundaka Wonodi, pioneer Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading plc, NBET and officials of Federal ministry of Power, signed a Power Purchase Agreement , PPA, with Azura Power West Africa Limited , to develop and operate a 450 MW, open cycle gas Turbine power station in Edo, Adam Oshiomhole, for National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, APC, home state, the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, on Friday, August 19, 2022, has raised alarm over the fraudulent deal. The power project was targeted to come on stream in 2017 but that was how far the company could go.
The House Committee had described the PPA, between the NBT and Azura plc, as a big fraud. The Committee had queried Nnaemeka Emelukwa, the current Managing Director of NBET and his management Team, to explain why the government over the last couple of years has been making a monthly payment of $33 million to the Azure power company without getting the value for the deal.
Emelukwa, may have shocked Nigerians when he said that when the investor produces power, ‘’whether it is taken and unutlised by Nigerians or not, the government must pay for the power generated in line with the terms of the contracts.’’Giving an insider information, the NBET, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, had said that the government agency had signed about 25 power -related contracts , one of which was the ‘’Take- or- Pay, agreement with the Azura Power plant , in which about $30 million is paid monthly to the power plant by the Nigeria government as against $33 million monthly payment claimed by James Faleke, the House Committee on Finance, Chairman.
The worry of the House Committee on Finance members was that ‘’the details of the agreement are shady ‘’. It was therefore not very surprising why the Committee had queried the Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, led Management Team of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading, Company NBET, ‘’to explain why the government agency should sign such a multi-million dollar, PPA.
Wonodi, the pioneer led Managing Director of NBET and his Management Team, according to informed sources had entered into the multi-million dollar contract with the Azura power company without the FEC, and against the advice of Mohammed Bello Adoke, a senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, the then minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.
The NBET, boss, may have taken advantage of the public Hearing on the multi-million dollar contract to open up, noting that ‘’the agency did not require ‘’to get the FEC, approval to enter into the power contract with Azura power plant, irrespective of the N2.5 million approval limit of the managing Director’s office’’, noting that ‘’due intelligence was done and the opinion of the Attorney General of the Federation of was sought +before the contract was signed’’.
Perhaps, to meet the curiosity of the Lawmakers who were interested in getting the details of the contracts, the NBET, CEO, had said that’’ the PPA, was signed by the two parties in 2014, revisited in 2015 and 2017 and became operational in 2018’’ which is under the Buhari Administration, noting that that ‘’the lifespan of the deal is 20 year
Going by the terms of the agreement, which has become a public knowledge, NIBET, Representatives, may have been influenced into signing for a fixed amount of commodity with the gas for power companies or power to supply to Nigerian consumers . The implications of the agreement was that ‘’whether the amount of power, NBET , the government agency had planned to take is taken or not, it must still pay the agreed amount to Azura Power Company, which is the investor, as a way to recover its investment on the construction of the power plant.
Faleke, had said that there was no basis for NBET, to bear the risk of buying the power from the Edo state based Azura power company and then selling it to non-existent consumers. Hear him: We have provided financial support to Azura Power Generation Company to be in business but the country is still where it had had been over the years with millions of Nigerians out of jobs, out of school and no job as well as no electricity to power industries to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed in the society.
The Public Liability Company , accompany , according to an insider was supposed ‘‘to serve as the Special Purpose Vehicle , SPV, for buying electricity in bulk from power generation companies, GENCOs’’, in addition ‘‘to other ancillary services from the GENCOs’.
Incorporated in July 29, 2010, by former President Jonthan, NBET, the source had said was part of ‘‘the Administration’s roadmap for the nation’s power sector towards the Full implementation of the Electricity Power Sector Reform Bill, EPSRB, passed by the National Assembly and which had been signed into Law by former President Olusegun Obasanjo , in 2005 .
An aggrieved Faleke, the House Committee Chairman of Finance, who had repeatedly said that Nigerians were not getting ‘‘the value for the alleged government investment in the Azura power generation Company had said that ‘‘Nigeria was in a situation of low revenue and high financial commitments’’, noting that some of ‘‘the agreements entered with the Edo power company were bound by law, thus making it difficult for the country to pull out’’ .
The Nigeria situation may have been worse because ‘‘the arbitration of some of the contracts’’ were said to have been ‘‘domiciled abroad as the world Bank was said to have been ‘‘the guarantor of all the agreements under the auspices of the Federal ministry of Finance, under the close watch of Hajia Zainab Ahmed.
, AT a recent public Hearing on the nbet/Azura power company contract, Faleke, the House Committee Chairman on Finance, had frowned at ‘’the Take –order- Pay contract’’ signed with the Edo state based power generation company , stating that the government had continued to pay $33 million to the company on a monthly basis since 2018, when the deal became operational.
The Buhari Administration may not have defaulted in the payment of the $33million to the Edo power firm, which many believe had acted deceitfully, to avoid being dragged to court, outside the country which may put its foreign assets in danger notwithstanding that ‘‘the country was not getting the value in terms of its power consumption’’.
