Prof Bart Nnaji

 By Bart Nnaji

Greetings and recognitions

It is truly an honour for the Geometric Power Group to have in our midst today in Aba someone who in my humble opinion is  Africa’s finest living statesmen, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, PhD. He was Nigeria’s military Head of State from 1976 to 1979 and the democratically elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. The Aba Independent Power Project would not have been born without Chief Obasanjo’s strong and visionary support.

The story began in 2000 when the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was constructing the Transmission Line from Shiroro to Katampe in Abuja to meet the fast-growing demand for power in the new Federal Capital City. The then NEPA needed a capable firm to build an Emergency Power Plant in Abuja to meet the demand pending the completion of the transmission line for power supply from the grid. Against all manner of unpatriotic forces, President Obasanjo approved a contract for our small team of talented Nigerian engineers led by me to build and operate the 22MW Abuja Emergency Power Plant designed to supply 15MW on 24/7 reliable basis to the entire Abuja Central Business District. Our company, built and operated one the two plants, while Aggreko of Scotland built and operated the second one of the same size. We are proud that instead of operating it for only one year that the plant operated successfully and supplied power reliably for over two years and four months it took to complete the Shiroro – Katampe 330KV line. During this period, power supply to these places in the Central Area of Abuja did not blink.

Bolstered by this experience, when the then World Bank President, Jim Wolfonsohn, visited Aba with the newly appointed Nigerian Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on 16 March, 2004, and discovered that the greatest obstacle to the industrial take-off of the famous Enyimba City was the absence of constant and reliable electricity, they urged me to consider building a power plant in Aba for the numerous small, medium and large industrialists in the area. The rest is history.

The Aba Integrated Power Project as many of you may know, is includes Geometric Power Aba Ltd (GPAL), an embedded generation licensee for our 188MW Power Plant with its dedicated 27Km gas pipeline from the gas processing station in Owaza to the power plant in Osisioma; and the electricity distribution licensee, Aba Power Electric, popularly known as Aba Power, which has eleven (11) substations including four (4) brand new 2x15MVA substations each, which H. E. former President Obasanjo graciously commissioned today. We also inherited and refurbished three (3) 2×15 MVA substations, thousands of kilometers of overhead powerlines, including over 100 km of brand new 33kv lines with unique, sturdy tubular poles strategically designed to provide reliable supply of electricity to the key industrial zones in the Aba ring-fenced area. So far,the Aba Integrated Power Project has cost over $800Million US Dollars. It is now the single largest investment in the Southeast.

Only a leader with Chief Obasanjo’s foresight and patriotism would permit the creation of the Aba Ring-fenced Area for this pilot project as part of his plan for the power sector reform program which he initiated as a way to revitalize and sustain Nigeria’s economy. The Aba ring-fence consists of nine (9) out of the seventeen (17) LGAs in Abia State. It is the first area  to simultaneously have permission to develop an independent source of power generation and distribution during the period of NEPA’s monopoly of the power sector, and a time when the law did not permit even State governments to get involved in power generation, transmission or distribution. In other words, thanks to Chief Obasanjo, Geometric Power was granted the pioneer concession to build the Aba Ring-fenced Area before the emergence of the Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, which placed electricity generation, transmission, and distribution on the concurrent list.

Chief Obasanjo also supported us in other critical ways. He made it possible through decisive intervention for Geometric Power to sign a commercial gas agreement with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and their JV partners, consisting of SPDC, NNPC, AGIP and TOTAL to provide gas to the 188MW Geometric Power Plant from the gas processing station at Owaza, in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State. This was the first time any independent power producer negotiated and signed such a commercial gas supply agreement with the IOCs in Nigeria. This negotiation process took close to four (4) years to complete. Frankly, without President Obasanjo’s approval for the supply of gas to the power plant, we would not have been able to negotiate with any IOC for gas supply in the first place.

In 2021, Chief Obasanjo’s intervention also made it possible for us to conclude negotiations with the Afreximbank on the credit facility that led to the revival of the Aba Independent Power Project after almost nine (9) years of delay due to “man-made error”, as the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, put it after he visited this site in March 2015. To ensure a logical conclusion of the agreement, Chief Obasanjo even discussed the project during a virtual meeting he had with the Afreximbank President, Professor Okey Oramah and his team.

Another Nigerian who played a critical role in the realization of the Aba Independent Power Project is in our midst today. It appears that the Project and His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, are joined at the hip. As the Executive Director of First Bank plc, H. E. Dr Otti worked hard to ensure that the Bank financed the Aba Power Project and while he was there the credit was approved. However, disbursement of the funds was subsequently suspended by the bank when Dr Otti moved to Diamond Bank as its Managing Director/Chief Executive.  However, he continued to work relentlessly at Diamond Bank to support  funding the development of the Project. As Governor of Abia State, he has continued to support the project in various ways leading to a profound partnership between Geometric Power and Abia State Government.

By divine coincidence, the Founder and Chairman of Diamond Bank, Dr Pascal Dozie, CON, was the first person to buy into the Aba Power Independent Power Project vision. He invested significantly in it and he continued to encourage me through the years of struggle for the survival of this project. His Diamond Bank provided the initial facility for the project and became the arranger of finance during the development and construction phase. While we give Governor Otti a round of well-deserved applause for his continued support of this project for the people in Abia State, I request that we all stand up and observe one minute of silence in honour of Dr Pacal Dozie (PGD), who was buried last Friday, 2^nd of May 2025. May his worthy soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Your Excellencies, Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I entitled this speech “The Nigerian Possibility” for a purpose. I have already spoken of how patriots like Chief Obasanjo, the late Dr.  Pascal Dozie and H. E. Governor Alex Otti recognized the positive impact this project would have on the development of our people and our nation; as well as the tremendous potential of our Nigerians and the things they could achieve if given the opportunity. They have spared no effort in supporting Geometric Power to realize this vision today. My team and I therefore pray that history will be kind to all of them.

There are other Nigerians who have contributed significantly to the Aba Independent Power Project. They contributed without caring about the location because they knew that the Project would ultimately serve all Nigerians directly or indirectly. Please permit me to acknowledge the roles of some key members of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. When we requested President Buhari, GCFR, to look into the gross injustice done to Geometric Power during the privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) assets in 2013, he asked the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, GCON, to resolve the issue quickly, together with the Honorable Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola. Both Professor Osinbajo and Mr Fashola did a patriotic and professional job that eventually extricated the Aba Power Project from the stranglehold of EEDC owners in 2022.

We have also received with gratitude, support from the administration of President Bola Tinubu, GCFR. Vice President Kashim Shettima, GCON, commissioned the Aba IPP Project on Monday, 26 February 2024, on behalf of President Tinubu, and the VP has been supporting us in critical ways without making a show of it. We have also received strong support from the current Honourable Minister of Power, and top officials of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The Aba Independent Power Project is an eloquent example of what Nigerians can do when we come together and work for the success of a shared vision that would the benefit our people and beloved nation. Unity and vision are the pathway to rapid national progress. As the venerable Dr Alex Ekwueme, GCON, Nigeria’s former Vice President, who also played a very significant part in the rise of Geometric Power, once said, Nigeria is a miracle waiting to happen.

The Aba Independent Power Project represents a huge Nigerian possibility. Fellow countrymen and women, we can truly achieve the much-touted greatness if we imbibe the spirit of the visioners who gave birth to Geometric Power’s Aba Integrated Power Project.

I thank you for listening.

*The Nigerian Possibility, Speech by Professor Bart Nnaji, CON, NNOM, FAS, FAEng Chairman and CEO Geometric Power Group during the Visit of His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, PhD Geometric Power’s Aba Integrated Power in Aba, 5^th May 2025