The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has presented discharge certificate to the Chairman of Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited, Tony Elumelu, the core investor in the Ughelli Power Plant.
According to the Vice President, serious private sector investment is needed in Nigeria’s power sector to meet the country’s rising energy needs.
The discharge came one month after the National Council on Privatisation approved the recommendations of the Bureau of Public Enterprise that Ughelli Power Plc be delisted from routine monitoring, having satisfied five core post-acquisition requirements, namely: available capacity, capital expenditure, human resources, health, safety and environment and corporate social responsibility.
Osinbajo commended the management of Transcorp Power, urging the company to “continue in that path and to do even better.”
Mr Alex Okoh, the Director-General of BPE, explained the discharge certificate became necessary after an evaluation showed that UPP’s generation capacity under Trancorp Power grew by 227% in a decade.
“The company has achieved an available capacity of 680.8 megawatts, which surpassed the minimum performance target of 670 megawatts. Capital expenditure totaling N58.6 billion was the covenant established for phases one and two of the post-acquisition plan, while actual investments made by the current investor were in the sum of N83.85 billion. All the agreed benchmarks on human resources, health, safety and environment and corporate social responsibility have also been achieved.