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The praise Geometric Power received last week from the Abia State Government for its efforts to ensure reliable power supply in its service coverage area brings to the fore a critical element in Nigeria’s economic development, public-private partnership (PPP) which has unfortunately become a desideratum. Although PPP is officially a development strategy adopted by all governments in the country, reality tells a different story.
With the publication in 2014 of the book entitled Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, Francis Fukuyama, a leading global thinker, shocked the world by revealing that a Nigerian state governor forced a soy milk company owned by a German named Robert and his Nigerian wife to close down for refusing to offer him large bribes. Ironically, it was the spouses who put the governor at risk, reporting him to the commissioner of the State Police for having asked for huge bribes from the nascent company.
Equally ironic is that it was the couple who brought the Police Commissioner into play by reporting the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) to him for demanding unaffordable bribes from a company that had not yet managed to get back on its feet. The DPO became involved in the matter because local government officials where the business was located were involved in repeated extortion.
The DPO asked for higher bribes than local government officials, and the state police commissioner asked for lower bribes than the DPO, and the state governor asked for a much higher amount than the state police commissioner. The company went bankrupt.
Fukuyama observes on page 218 of the book that it is a deep and wide-ranging reflection on the development of political theory: “Although this may seem like a typical story about corruption in the developing world, it raises troubling questions.
Robert and his wife’s willingness to start a business should have created a win-win situation for everyone: for the soybean farmer, for the consumers of their products, for the 200 employees of Robert’s company, and, indeed, for the public officials who would see increased long-term tax revenues and who might be rewarded in the next election for encouraging the creation of so many jobs. .. Once Robert left the country, there was no one from whom he could extort a bribe, no one who could impose further taxes. The potential win-win has become a lose-lose.”
Nigerians who followed the privatization of the electricity sector in November 2013, for example, were not surprised by Fukuyama’s revelation that senior Nigerian public officials deliberately destroy businesses, however critical they may be to the economy or society, for purely private gain.
We have seen how the country’s leadership has brazenly refused to uphold the 2004 agreement, amended in 2005, between Geometric Power and the Federal Government that carved out nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State to form the Aba Gated Area where Geometric Power would generate electricity and distribute it in the area. This is despite the fact that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) issued notices in the media informing potential investors of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) that the Aba fence was not part of the land up for grabs.
The BPE went a step further by including in the prospectus for potential investors in the EEDC a caveat documenting that the nine LGAS in and around Aba had been separated from the territory of the EEDC. However, senior government officials ignored this for purely personal gain.
When President Goodluck Jonathan visited Geometric Power on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, during a re-election campaign in Abia State, he expressed great surprise at the huge expenditure on the Aba Independent Power Project totaling nearly $800 million. He is committed to solving the problem because, in his own words, “this is a man-made problem.” The declaration turned out, however, to be a mere political promise. He never corrected the grave injustice.
It is therefore gratifying to learn of the letter of praise from the management of Geometric Power to the Abia State Government for what the company described as its genuine partnership with the government. The statement signed by Edise Ekong, Brand and Communications Manager of Aba Power, the integrated distribution subsidiary of Geometric Power Group, revealed that following a series of Aba fence disruptions in recent weeks arising from disruptions in the gas supply chain, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, his Commissioner for Energy and Utilities, Ikechukwu Monday, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Energy and Utilities, Katchi Etolue, have been working 24 24 hours a day with the geometric management and staff to resolve inefficiencies. The interruptions are now over.
The governor spoke directly and personally with Heirs Energies, which took over the management of Oil Mining License (OML) 17 at Owaza in Ukwa West LGA of Abia State from The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari refused to renew the license for Shell, leading to protracted disputes and drying up investments in gas plants for years.
This development has worsened the condition of old gas pipelines built between 50 and 60 years ago. According to Aba Power Communications Manager, Governor Otti has also held discussions with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and Independent System Operator (ISO) with the aim of enabling Geometric Power to receive supplies from the national grid during emergencies. The discussions were fruitful.
True, Otti is not the only governor to help Geometric Power succeed for the benefit of Abia people. Every governor of Abia State, from Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has enthusiastically helped. But Otti’s is special. As Geometric Power president Bart Nnaji once noted, it would appear that both his company and Otti are united.
Otti was the CEO of First Bank when the bank was presented with the proposal to finance the Aba Independent Power Project and, in a twist of fate, he headed an internal committee that reviewed the proposal. When he moved to Diamond Bank as CEO, Otti became head of the financial institution that had promoted the new privately owned electric company from the beginning.
Years later, he was at the helm of Abia when Vice President Kashim Shettima commissioned the Aba Power Project on February 26, 2024. The energy project is a socio-economic game changer in the state, resulting in historic investment flows to Aba, famous for indigenous manufacturing.
The Abia State Government is showing the light on how the public and private sectors can work collaboratively. This is significant. As Aliko Dangote, Africa’s most successful entrepreneur, has publicly stated, some Nigerian government officials are gleefully working in cahoots with economic sharks to kill huge investments like the $20 billion Dangote refinery in Lagos just for their private benefit.
Shortly after the accusation, Farouk Ahmed was removed on December 17 as the CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Nigerian government leaders must take a cue from the Abia State government and even Chinese civil servants who, as Edward Tse reported in the influential book The China Strategy: Harnessing the Power of the World’s Fast-Growing Economy, work effectively, efficiently and enthusiastically to attract huge investment to their countries. Whatever many say against President Donald Trump, no one doubts his eagerness to attract investment to the United States. Abia State Government is on the right trajectory.
Adinuba served as Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Anambra State, from 2018 to 2022.
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