Three Nigerian Plants to be Privatised: Officials

Three more Nigerian power plants are to be privatised, according to officials who say this will mark a continuation of a process begun in 2013.

They will then be referred to as National Integrated Power Projects (or NIPPs) -- power plants originally under full state control that have been privatised, with investors committing to modernise the unit and buy fuel.

The three plants are Calabar (634MW), Alaoji (a 1076MW combined cycle unit), and Geregu (506MW), according to officials of state-owned Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC). 

Challenges that forced privatisation of these plants to be suspended in 2013, namely transmission and gas supply issues, have been resolved, said NDPHC managing director Chiedu Ugbo on October 9, noting that the Buhari administration had given the go-ahead for privatisation talks to resume.

Ugbo did not name likely bidders, but indicated that the same bidders as in 2013 are still interested in the renewed process.

NDPHC said that in 2013 over 28 Nigerian and foreign pre-qualified bidders expressed interest in ten gas-fired plants then offered for sale. Nigeria first launched the NIPP programme in 2004 to deal with serious shortfalls in Nigeria's electric generating capacity and leverage the country's gas reserves.

Ugbo explained how power transmission issues from, and gas supply issues to, the various plants had been resolved in recent years.

"Total has finished the dedicated pipeline to Alaoji power plant and has started supplying gas to the plant since end-2016. Alaoji and Calabar both have gas evacuation facilities. We got approval for Calabar to be privatised, Alaoji was not included because it was under litigation. But the issue has been handled and Alaoji is back," he said. 

Regarding Geregu, he added that NDPHC was discussing the finalisation of its gas supply arrangements with two state firms: Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria and NPDC.

Omono Okonkwo