About 22,000 members of the Aba Landlords Protection and Development Association, have threatened to shut down the Federal Government-owned Alaoji Power plant on the outskirts of Aba which supplies electricity to the Southeast and South-south.
The group made the declaration on Friday at a news conference demanding that the TCN should reconnect Aba Power within 24 hours or else they would shut down the Federal Government-owned Alaoji Power plant.
The threat was sequel to the failure of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which has failed to reconnect them to the national grid after more than one week
The adding that action of the TCN has caused terrible blackout in the Aba Ring-fenced Areas after huge sums of N120 million was collected from them by the Abia State Market Operating Unit.
They claimed that they were given hope of reconnecting the Aba Power to the national grid after the money was paid but since then nothing has happened.
The President General of the Aba Landlords Protection and Development Association, Chief Alphonsus Udeigbo, said, “the news of the payment gladdened the hearts of all Abia people, especially manufacturers and such other stakeholders as real estate investors who expected to have light during the weekend after one week of a blackout.
“It is surprising that the restoration has not occurred, meaning the TCN breached the terms of the agreement, just as it breached the 2010 Nigerian Electricity Market Rules by yanking off Aba Power from the grid without abiding by the 30-day notice it gave the company and by shutting Aba Power down without putting it on notice”.
It was gathered that N120m was paid to the market operator on Friday, as part of the N896m that the distribution firm owes Federal Government agencies in the power sector.
Aba Power is Nigeria’s newest electricity distribution company which commenced operations last year.
Sources close to both the TCN and Aba Power, who did not want their names published in the media because they are not allowed to speak to the press, said top officials of the organisations had series of meetings in Abuja, last week on the reconnection of the distribution company where a payment schedule agreement was reached.
It was gathered that Aba Power, based on the agreement, would pay an initial N120m, and thus get restored to the national grid so that further payments would be made later.
It was learned that the N120m was transferred to the Market Operator’s bank account on Friday morning.
Engineer, Ben Caven, former officer of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), said nine distribution companies and four generation companies including the Ajaokuta Steel Complex Company in Kogi State have been threatened with punishment for owing federal agencies in the power sector.
Caven is said to be the most respected engineer in the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), who enjoys the reputation of being the only person to head the transmission, generation and engineering divisions of the utility.
He was also deeply involved in the design and building of the generation and transmission networks.
According to him, “But none of these organisations has been treated like Aba Power
“The TCN has removed only three feeders out of at least the 60 at the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, and it was done only this weekend
“But in the Aba Power case, which is owing far lower than any GenCo or DisCo, it is a complete shutdown, and it began over one week ago.
“The irony is that all the indebted firms were notified of an impending punishment on April 19, 2023, but the punitive action against Aba Power commenced a few hours later, and not after the 30-day notice given by the TCN.”
The Aba Power Managing Director, Patrick Umeh, who is also a former commissioner with the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), expressed surprise that the TCN has continued to throw Abia State into darkness after Aba Power paid “a significant amount at a particularly difficult time in Nigeria.
He explained that until recently, the people couldn’t access either petrol or the local currency, a situation that hampered their customers’ ability to pay for electricity bills.
“If our ringfence remains without light, the situation will affect our ability to meet our obligations to the TCN and other power sector participants.
“The current situation is an ill wind that blows no one any good, therefore, the TCN has to reconsider its position”. He said.
