The federal government has formally presented the post-privatisation Discharge Certificate to Transcorp Power Limited, the owner of the 972 megawatts (MW) thermal power generation plant located in Ughelli, Delta State.
This was just as the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, reviewed the current power situation in the country and concluded that serious private sector participation was the only viable approach to solving Nigeria's serious power crisis.
Transcorp Power was delisted from the routine evaluation and monitoring of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), marking a major achievement for the company.
This followed the fulfilment of all privatisation conditions set by the National Council on Privatisation by Transcorp Power, owned by Africa's billionaire businessman, renowned philanthropist and promoter of Africapitalism, Mr. Tony Elumelu, after the purchase of the power plant in 2013.
Speaking at the certificate presentation meeting called by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) held yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, attended by Osinbajo, who is the Chairman of NCP and the Director General of the BPE, Dr Alex Okoh amongst other, Elumelu promised to invest massively in the power sector to help Nigeria's industrialisation.
Transnational Corporation acquired Ughelli Power Plc, now Transcorp Power Limited, from the federal government on November 1, 2013, during the privatisation of the power sector.
At the time of acquisition, the plant had an available capacity of 160MW. Transcorp invested and increased the available capacity to 680.83MW, representing a 227 per cent increase within four years of takeover, surpassing the five-year target of 670MW set by the BPE.
Transcorp Power Limited is a member of West African Power Pool and a participant in the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Market. Today, Transcorp Power supplies electricity to the ECOWAS Regional Market.
With the issuance of the Discharge Certificate to Transcorp Power, it would no longer be subjected to post-privatisation monitoring and is now the first privatised power generation company to achieve this milestone since the power sector privatisation commenced in 2013.
One of the key targets set for Transcorp was a minimum available capacity of 670MW, which is achieved cumulating to the presentation of the Discharge Certificate to it by the NCP.
Speaking at the event, Osinbajo commended Elumelu and his Transcorp Group for ensuring compliance and surpassing expectations with all post privatisation deliverables.
Osinbajo said, "Post privatisation monitoring is an important aspect of the federal government's privatisation programme. Transcorp Power has been able to ensure compliance and surpassed expectations with all post privatisation deliverables. I commend Tony Elumelu and his Transcorp team for this feat. I urge Transcorp Group to continue in that path and even do better.
"This being the first, should not be the last post privatisation discharge event."
In his remark, Okoh congratulated the board and management of Transcorp for the milestones achieved in turning around the enterprise.
He noted that Transcorp has met and exceeded the performance targets and all other covenanted obligations agreed during the signing of the privatisation agreement in 2013.
"Transcorp Power increased the generation capacity of the plant by 227 per cent from the operational status as at handover in 2013", he said.
According to Okoh, "a capital expenditure totaling N58.612 billion was covenanted for phase 1, phase 2 as 'additional investment' but the actual investment made by Transcorp was the sum of N83.85 billion, leading up to a score of 143 per cent."
Also speaking, Elumelu, who is the Group Chairman of Transcorp, thanked the federal government for their trust and confident in Transcorp.
He promised to invest massively in the power sector to help Nigeria's industrialisation.
He said in addition to fulfilling the post-privatisation performance criteria, Transcorp has driven a strong indigenous agenda, saying their plants were being managed and fully operated by Nigerians, hence creating jobs and reducing unemployment in the country.
"For us as Heirs Holdings Group, for us as Transcorp Group, we believe in improved access to electricity because we know that improved access to electricity means powering our schools, helping hospitals to function very well, helping businesses to grow and create employment and most importantly, helping to industrialise Nigeria.
"So because of this, we invest in the power sector and we will continue to even invest more in that sector because in line with our philosophy of Africapitalism, we cannot develop Nigeria, Africa without improvement in our access to electricity. And so, we think that the single most important investment that we as private sector can make is to invest in power and uplift our people out poverty, create jobs and get our women involved in economic activities," Elumelu stated.
Beyond meeting all the set criteria of increasing electricity generation beyond the capacity covenanted with the federal government which was 680mw, he noted that the Group had a "strong indigenisation agenda."
He expressed the group's pride having Nigerians managing and operating their plants, which is helping in job creation for Nigerians.
Elumelu further said, "But beyond job creation is improving the expertise of our people. We also have operated under very strict safety standards. We have operated since 2013 -10 years now. No incident, no health hazard, nothing and we will continue to stay that way because we know that in 21st Century, sustainability is key, health is important, safety extremely important.
"So we bring all of this together in what we do at Transcorp Group. And finally, I would like to say that we don't grow alone at Transcorp Group. We grow with the community. We have grown with our community. We have helped to develop the community we are operating.
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"We created jobs, we economically empower people. We have a functional hospital, we have a primary and secondary school and we will continue to do more."
He said in line with the Transcorp Group's philosophy of Africapitalism, the group maintains a symbiotic relationship that ensures mutual support between them and their host community.
"So for us at Transcorp, it's about improving lives and transforming our society. We know that you cannot improve life if you cannot invest massively in access to electricity. And I want to use the opportunity to call on friends, other Africans and private sector leaders, let's prioritise the power sector in Nigeria and Africa so that we can get our people out of poverty and create jobs for our young ones", he added.
Transcorp Power is a leading power generation plant in Nigeria, with a commitment to developing Nigerian human capital, and the plant is currently operated 100 per cent by Nigerians.
In 2020, Transcorp Group increased its installed capacity to 2,000MW with the acquisition of Afam Power Plc and Afam III Fast Power Ltd, located in Rivers State.
Other dignitaries at the event were Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu; President and Group Chief Executive Officer, Transcorp Plc, Dr Owen Omogiafo; and Managing Director, Transcorp Power Plc, Mr. Christopher Ezeafulukwe, amongst others.
