Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has pulled another string in the country’s power sector as he returned the number of Directorate at the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to five.
The President who on May 29, 2015 met the company, incorporated exactly fifteen years ago (August 2005), with five Directors, scrapped the structure put in place by the Goodluck Jonathan government where all the six geopolitical zones make up the five Executive Directors and Managing Director.
Checks by Platforms Africa showed that the company began operations after being incorporated with two directors and one managing director. Explaining that the five directors structure was bogus, Mr. Buhari, in june 2015, returned the directorate to the two structure the company began with in 2005.
The President who announced this major decision through a statement sent to this online newspaper also approved the renewal of the appointment of Mr. Joseph Chiedu Ugbo as the Managing Director of Company and Messrs Babayo Shehu and Ifeoluwa Oyedele as Executive Directors respectively.
“This renewal will take effect from August 25, 2020 for a period of four (4) years,” the statement issued by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity,
Office of the Vice President, read. The letter is dated 20th of August, 2020.
“The appointment of three (3) additional directors have also been approved for more effective and efficient coverage of the company’s areas of activity,” the statement concluded.
The National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), it would be recalled, was conceived in 2004 as a fast-track government funded initiative to stabilize Nigeria’s electricity supply system while the private-sector-led structure of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) of 2005 took effect.
NIPP was originally designed around seven medium sized gas fired power stations in the gas producing states, and the critical transmission infrastructure needed to evacuate the added power into the national grid. A commitment to electrify host communities in the vicinity of the power stations and major substations gave rise to the distribution component of the project.
In August 2005, the National Council of State and the National Assembly approved an initial funding for NIPP from the excess crude savings account’ (ECSA) which statutorily belong to the Federal, State and Local Governments.
The Federal Government therefore incorporated the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) as a limited liability company to serve as the legal vehicle to hold the NIPP assets using private sector-orientated best business practices.
Following the 2007 change in administration at the Federal level and in many States, the funding arrangements for the NIPP were subjected to intensive legal, political and financial scrutiny, resulting in over two years interruption in funding for the projects.
At the time of the suspension, some amount of money was already invested in NIPP, which allowed some of the projects to continue despite the funding interruption.
Late in 2008, after a protracted and intensive debate on the way forward, the National Economic Council (NEC) agreed to set aside an additional fund from the ECOA as a power emergency fund to complete NIPP subject to the approvals of all the State legislative houses.
To implement the decision, in 2009, NEC inaugurated the NIPP steering council chaired by the then Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, with six State governors and four Federal ministers as members.
The erstwhile NIPP Steering Council is now the Board of Directors of NDPHC chaired by the Vice President. Its decisions have revitalized NIPP to add new capacity to Nigeria’s electricity supply system for the benefit of consumers throughout the country, as the reforms of the Power Road Map and the EPSRA take effect.
To implement the decision, in 2009, NEC inaugurated the NIPP steering council chaired by the then Vice President, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, with six State Governors and four Federal Ministers as members.
However, following the death of the then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria- His Excellency Umaru Yar’Adua; His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He subsequently nominated His Excellency Arch. Nmadi Sambo (then Executive Governor of Kaduna State) as Vice President. Sambo was formally sworn in as the Vice President of Nigeria on 19th May 2010 after his approval by the National Assembly.
The NIPP steering Council transited to the board of Directors of NDPHC and chaired by the then Vice President, His Excellency Arch. Mohammed Namadi Sambo.
