The governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, has confirmed that the previous administration of the state made no financial investment in the recently commissioned 188MW geometric power plant project in the State.
The governor spoke through the Minister of Commissioner for Information and Culture, Mr Okey Kanu, in a press statement on Tuesday at the Government House, Umuahia.
According to Kanu, some parties have argued that the previous administration contributed investments to the project for the state government.
Kanu stated that the government operates on facts rather than assumptions, emphasizing that at the time of transition, the current administration received no documentation to substantiate the claims.
- “Geometric Power Plant is a private sector led investment company and you don’t speak about things that don’t exist.
- “At the point of handover from the previous administration to this administration, I don’t think there is any existence of financial commitment on the part of the state in the Geometric Power Plant.
- “Like I said we don’t need to speak to something that doesn’t exist,” he said.
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On his part, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, characterized the government as an entity that adheres to specific procedures and upholds particular standards in its operations.
Furthermore, Ekeoma mentioned that the present administration did not possess any documents to prove that the previous government had financially committed to the project.
- ““I have heard from the spokesperson of the former government claim that there was an agreement, of course, we have been told that the state invested $5 million in geometric which gave them the opportunity to own 5% equity share.”
- “At a different occasion, a former commissioner of Information during the previous administration claimed that a certain amount was paid and not the entire amount.
- “That gave the Chairman of Geometric the premise to say what he said a few days ago.
- “If you fulfilled your own side of the agreement it would give you the opportunity to take the said equity.
- “As long as we don’t have any documents what it means is that such does not exist,” he added.
According to him, finding out that the government had received something substantial from the previous administration would be a beneficial development.
- “We are not dismissing what the former government said but all we are saying is that we would need to have a document.
- “You cannot go to geometric and begin to claim you did so and so thing, when in actual sense you have nothing to show for it,” Ekeoma said.
What you should know
In a recent report, Nairemetrics explained the significance of 188MW Geometric Power Plant in Aba, Abia State, in the energy sector of the Southeast state.
- According to the explainer, the first phase of the project was completed around 2013.
- However, the project faced several challenges, including regulatory, political, and legal issues, which were not resolved until 2022 under the Buhari administration.
- During that year, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) facilitated the handover of the Aba Electricity Ringfenced area from EEDC/Interstate Electrics/FGN to Geometric.
- It was expected to commence operation in September 2023, starting with one of its four General Electric brand turbines.