By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, said liquidity remains the major solution required by the power sector to perform optimally.
Edun stated this in his submission before the Senate Committee on Power which is investigating the controversial Make-Up-Gas ( MUG) Reprocessing Deal Involving the Ministry of Finance, NDPHC, Calabar Generation Company Limited, and ACUGAS Limited.
The Minister’s speech was read by his Special Assistant, Mallam Dahiru Moyi.
He said the agreement on Gas supply between NPDHC and ACUGAS Limited was inherited by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 since it was signed in 2011 during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
He said, “Just as the Ministry of Justice was not aware of the contract agreement, the Ministry of Finance was also not part of it from the beginning but since the government is a continuum, the Ministry of Finance later came into it to facilitate the required liquidity.
“The issues on the ground about contracts agreements being investigated by the Senate Committee on Power is not about restructuring but providing the required liquidity which the Ministry of Finance is doing through collaboration with the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
“Since the NLNG pays Gas in dollars, the Ministry is collaborating with it for a practical solution of bringing liquidity into the age-long contract agreement through Deed of Transfer.
“Make-Up-Gas (MUG) belongs to Calabar Power Plant. Calabar Power Plant belongs to NDPHC and NDPHC belongs to Federal and State governments with the Federal Government having 52.68 per cent,” he said.
In his submission before the committee, the Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr Chiedu Ugbo, informed the Senate Committee on Power that the Calabar Power Generation Company under its ownership, remained the best-performing power plant in the country.
He said the company, as a result of the Gas supply agreement with ACUGAS Limited, is taking Gas from three out of five units and generating power from the Calabar plant to the national grid which according to him, is the best power plant in the entire country.
He said NDPHC went out of its way to construct 80 kilometres gas pipeline for utilization of MUG in Calabar and Alaoji power plants.
He, however, lamented that problems relating to systemic transition, frequency, and voltage issues, have not made the firm achieve the desired results.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia-South), thanked the stakeholders for giving the committee clarity on the issue but added that is still an ongoing investigation.
