Ughelli Power Plant: Osinbajo presents discharge certificate to Transcorp Power
Says privatisation of power sector remains right approach to power solution
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday presented the discharge certificate to Transcorp Power Limited on its acquisition of the Ughelli Power Plant at the State House, Abuja.
The ceremony was performed when the vice president presided over a National Council on Privatisation meeting.
The Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Mr Alex Okoh; and Chairman, Transcorp Group Ltd, Mr Tony Elumelu; signed the discharge certificate from BPE.
Osinbajo, who presented the certificate to Elumelu, said the occasion was the delisting of Transcorp Power from BPE’s routine Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) as earlier explained by the DG of BPE.
He said the routine evaluation and monitoring was an important feature of the Post Acquisition Plan (PAP) by the BPE which spelt out covenants and deliverables which the enterprise was supposed to live up to.
He further said, “And we found in this case, that Transcorp Power Plc has done exactly that. They have been able to ensure compliance with all of the deliverables and in some cases even exceeding the covenanted deliverables in the PAP.”
He commended the management of
Transcorp Power, led by Tony Elumelu and members of the Transcorp Power team, as well as the BPE, for doing an excellent job of monitoring.
Osinbajo further said the privatisation of the power sector remained the right approach to tackle the challenges of power in the country.
He said, “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 able to meet the expectations of the post evaluation plans.”
Mr Elumelu thanked the vice president and the federal government for the confidence and trust in the company and assured that the organisation would not disappoint Nigerians.
He said, “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.