By Chijioke Okoronkwo
The Federal Government has presented Certificate of Discharge to Transcorp Power Limited on its completion of the acquisition of Ughelli Power Plant in Delta.
The presentation of the certificate was done at the meeting of National Council on Privatisation (NCP) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Alex Okoh, the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), signed on behalf of the Federal Government while Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of Transcorp Group, signed on behalf of the Transcorp Power Limited.
The certificate of discharge entails that the firm has met the conditions stipulated in its agreement with the Federal Government as presented by BPE.
In his remarks, the vice president said that NCP was pleased with the performance of Transcorp Power as the certificate meant that the firm had been delisted from routine monitoring.
“This is a very happy occasion because it is not often that public institutions such as ourselves, the NCP is able to say that we were able to see and conduct power matters from beginning to the end and to see to the end of it is successful.
“Very often, we see the hiccups and we go from one government to the other trying to resolve a particular issue; so, this is a very heart-warming occasion.
“Of course, we have heard already from the director general of BPE that what we are doing today is the delisting of Transcorp Power Limited from the routine evaluation and monitoring of the BPE.
“The routine evaluation and monitoring is, as we have heard already from the director general of BPE, is an important feature of the post-acquisition plan by the BPE and it has covenants and deliverables which the enterprise is supposed to live up to.’’
Osinbajo said that Transcorp Power had performed creditably and ensured compliance with all of the deliverables, adding that in some cases even exceeding the covenanted deliverables.
He commended the management of Transcorp Power Limited led by Elumelu and members of the Transcorp power team.
The vice president also lauded BPE for doing an excellent job of monitoring and being able to come up with an objective means of deciding to delist the Transcorp Power Limited.
“And we have also heard today that the Transcorp Power is able to deliver efficiently and it is able to do so even way beyond the expectations. So, we urge the organisation to continue in that path and to do even better.
“The power needs of our country are grave; and we strongly believe that the right approach is the privatisation of the power sector to enable serious minded private sector players to invest in the provision of public power and ensure that they are efficient while they make profit at the same time.
“We hope that this will not be the last in the series of private power companies that are taking over power plants that are unable to meet the expectations of the post evaluation plans,’’ he said.
Earlier in his remarks, Okoh said that the gesture was in recognition of the achievement of the performance target as stipulated in the Performance Agreement.
Okoh said that the performance agreement was entered into by the company and the Federal Government represented by BPE upon the privatisation of the power plant in 2013.
“Today’s event is in fulfilment of the bureau’s promise made to privatised enterprises who fully implement the agreed key performance benchmark contained in the post-acquisition plan and the performance agreement,’’ he said.
Elumelu thanked the vice president and the Federal Government for the confidence and trust reposed in the firm, adding that the company would not disappoint Nigerians and the Federal Government.
“We at Transcorp Group recognise the importance of improved access to electricity; we know that with improved access to electricity, people can go to school, hospitals can function well; businesses can operate very well and most importantly can empower the industrialisation of our country.
“This is why we invested in power and why we continue to invest in the power sector because we know it holds the key largely to the success of our country.
“Mr Vice President, let me also say that in addition to the criteria set, we actually are doing a very strong Indigenisation of Transcorp Power Limited; I am proud to say that our power plant is managed and operated 100 per cent by Nigerians,’’ he said.
According to Elumelu, the firm has been operating since 2013 with no incident and was looking forward that it will be sustained as Transcorp knew the importance of safety and sustainability in the world.
“Finally, we have not grown alone; we have grown together with our community.
“We have functional hospital, schools – primary and secondary schools and we do engage a lot with the community and have helped to create jobs for our people.
“So, we are happy to be on this journey with the Federal Government and we want to do more in this sector. Thanks to the Federal Government and we will not let Nigerians down,’’ he said.(NAN)
