Port Harcourt — The Trans-Amadi Gas Turbine in Port Harcourt, Rivers State was giving off a droning and sometimes grating sound like the lively noise of a new engine and a newsman asked the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Magnus Abe whether the Gas Turbine was working.
The commissioner flashed the reporter a smile and said, “go and touch it .” This elicited laughter from everyone present.
Such is the cynicism that had trailed the Gas Turbine project of Governor Peter Odili’s administration. The Trans-Amadi Gas Turbine has now been completed and supplies power. The Omoku gas turbine also in the state is nearing completion. On the gas turbine projects in Rivers State, there are different levels of cynicism that have come up on account of the power project.
There are those who believe that there are no gas turbines anywhere that have been built by Governor Peter Odili’s administration. For these, the argument is that there has been no noticeable improvement in the supply of power in the state since the much touted Gas Turbine projects.
There are those who agree that Turbines actually have been built or are being built by the administration but insist that the turbines are make-believe structures like an African village scene built in the Nevada desert in the United States just for movie production and which would be dismantled afterwards.
This class of cynics also argue, asking, “why we no dey get light? E no dey work, my brother.”
There are still others who agree that the turbines have really been built but they hold the view that the state should not have gone into such gagantuan projects when there are other pressing needs in the state. They cite roads, unemployment, potable water and others. This class of cynics also contend that these power projects are conduit pipes by those in government to siphon funds into their private pockets.
Of this class is the spokesman of the Rivers Democratic Movement (RDM) Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe. Hear him: “The whole turbine project is a fraud. There are no roads, no water, nothing and we are tying down N20 billion.” He is also not happy with the site of the turbines, “especially when government is constitutionally barred from siting such projects in areas where there is national grid.”
Chief Sara-Igbe further reasoned that, “if Governor Odili was sincere and does not see that project as a conduit pipe, he would have built the turbine in places like Buguma, Kula, Abonnema and so on, where there are national grids.”
No less a personality than the Federal Minister of Power, Senator Liyel Imoke has come to the rescue of the Rivers State Government by describing the gas turbine projects in the state as a huge success.
The Power minister further noted that any problem arising from distribution of power from the Gas Turbine could not be laid at the door step of the state government but on NEPA which is responsible for the distribution. His argument is that the Rivers State gas turbine generates power and that it is NEPA that distributes the power. If there is a problem with distribution, NEPA is at fault which means it has failed in its duty and not the Rivers State Government whose gas turbine is already generating power.
The State Commissioner for Power, Mr. Akeodi Oyagiri has made a case for the Gas Turbine projects, saying they are essential for technological development if we are to compete favourably in the commity of nation.
According to him, there was a time when Port Harcourt alone needed 808 megawatts “and NEPA was only bringing in a maximum of 50 megawatts regularly, so you had that shortfall.”
Continuing, he said, “now, government’s attitude was, well, we must do something about this if we must think of developing. The fundamental issue now is that we keep talking about development; we keep talking about industrialisation. Whoever has any financial appreciation of our needs in this country today will appreciate that internally, our economy, at least for now, depends on oil.
"At least, a good 80% of our revenue come from that source and it is even something that we don’t control. We don’t even control the price, or process cost. It is sold in foreign currency and part of what we needed to do was to make this place attractive enough so that it can attract foreign capital particularly such capital that is coming to Africa, that is the capital coming to the industry in Africa.
"When you look at Nigeria or when you look at Africa from outside and you are thinking in terms of investment, you look at South Africa, and you look at Nigeria, as the most favourable places you might go to for investments. Nigeria, because of our population, South Africa because of infrastructre. When you decide to come to Nigeria, you are looking at Lagos and Port Harcourt. But Lagos does not produce oil. Port Harcourt is at the heart of the oil industry. Dr. Odili was visionary enough to appreciate that we need to do something to stop this idea whereby you have companies doing business here but building their headquarters in Lagos, even the oil companies.
“Let me just give you an example so that you would appreciate what I am talking about. When those big companies establish their headquarters in Lagos, the first thing they do is that their lawyers, their doctors and all the rest of them are from that part of the country. You will find that while their staff are working here, their workers bring in doctors and lawyers from that part of the country and you need to know how much money they spend to bring lawyers and doctors from that part of the country to this part.
“So we needed to go into the power industry to make this place as attractive as Lagos. Same thing we’ve done with the investment that has gone into security to make this place a safe place in terms of security.
“In terms of other infrastructure, of course you know that today’s modern business runs with e-whatever and the e-business cannot be done without electricity because you need electricity to power your computers and all the rest of them, so it was imperative that we do this. (Omoku and Trans-Amadi Gas Turbines). And like I told you, NEPA can only bring in 60 megawatts at that point and looking at Nigeria today, you know that NEPA on its own cannot do it."
The State Power Commissioner further argued that South Africa with a much smaller population than Nigeria generates much more megawatts of power than Nigeria, adding that the little amount of power generated by Nigeria is even distributed to some neighouring countries like Niger and Benin Republic because of Nigeria’s agreement with such countries which has stopped those countries from building dams (that would adversely affect us) to generate their own electricity.
