page 27 NEWS BUSINESS

page 27 NEWS BUSINESS

NERC grants 190mw Ibom Power licence for additional 495mw

By Simon Echewofun Sunday

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday granted a licence to the 190 megawatts (mw) Ibom Power to add 495mw to its plant in Akwa Ibom state.

The plant, wholly owned by the state government, has been generating and transmitting power to the national grid from its three gas turbines – the GT-1, which generates 39mw; GT-2-41mw and GT-3-126mw – since 2009.

The Ibom Power Managing Director, Victor Udo, said the plant has a pre-designed generation capacity of 685mw, on which the state government has approached the NERC for an expanded licence to develop.

It already has its natural gas source from Septa Energy’s integrated gas receiving facility, which reportedly supplies the 563 Calabar and 504mw Alaoji plant built under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).

Speaking on the state investment, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Udom said, “As at today, the state government spent about $22m on transmission lines. But the TCN should also try to upgrade because there is no point producing 685mw and you cannot evacuate.”

The NERC Chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, had earlier noted that the expanded licence was based on its fulfillment of the regulatory requirements demanded of it, saying, “We have very strict procedure for licencing and if we are sitting here with the governor today to sign and present their licence, that is indicative that the government of Akwa Ibom has scrupulously followed the procedure and they have been certified worthy and able to increase their capacity from 190mw to a whooping 685mw. That is not easy.”

The Commissioner for Legal and Licensing at NERC, Dr. Steven Adzinge informed that the Commission has granted 126 licences to investors in the power sector within its 10 years of being established, adding that the generation licence ought to have given Nigeria 35,314mw on-grid power supply.

“Our scorecard for now shows that we have issued about 126 licences since inception of NERC and NERC has been in existence for about 10 years. Out of these licences, on-grid are 72, off-grid 25, embedded is six, distribution 14, trading is one, transmission is one and system operation, one.

“In terms of on-grid, we have 22,216mw, off-grid 428mw and embedded, 298mw; NIPPs have 5,032mw; PHCN successor companies have about 7,283mw and legacy IPP 708mw. The total capacity for on-grid is 35,314mw, off-grid 428.12mw and embedded generation 298mw,” he said.

ýDPR seals Total, Eterna Oil for hoarding fuel

From Mohammed Shosanya

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), yesterday sealed the depots of Total Oil Plc, Eterna Oil Plc and De Jones Oil and Gas Limited for hoarding fuel.

Total and Eterna Oil were said to have hoarded 13.6 million litres of the product respectively, while De-Jones diverted 19.5 million litres of fuel, contrary to the efforts of the federal government to wet the country with sufficient level of the product.

At the monitoring of depots in Lagos on yesterday, the agency also accused Ascon Oil Limited and Integrated Oil and Gas Limited of infractions in the discharge of fuel, but ordered the affected companies to report to its office at 3pm yesterday for further discussion on how to normalise the situation.

But the Managing Director of Integrated Oil has denied the company had infraction in the discharge of fuel.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the monitoring, the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Modeccai Ladan, berated depot owners in the country for hoarding fuel with a view to creating artificial scarcity of the product.

ý Ladan maintained that there is no scarcity of fuel in Nigeria because it currently has in stock over 300m litres of the product, while the government has just paid some of the outstanding debts owed marketers of the product.

ý He said the agency would continue to monitor the depots of marketers with a view to protecting consumers, as well as ensure that the country has enough of fuel to consume.

He also said the agency would not rest on its oars to ensure that depot owners and marketers who hoard fuel are made to face the music.

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Customs boss, Ali reiterates resolve on N944bn revenue target

By Simon Echewofun Sunday

The Customs Comptroller-General, retired colonel, Hameed Ali, has said the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) would meet its N944 billion revenue target by December 2015, warning officers to shun corruption of face the law.

Ali, who spoke to the media on his second day tour, said he was upbeat on meeting the target. He said the riot act was to curb corrupt practice and block leakages.

“The fact is that we are behind what we are supposed to realise, but we are hopeful that this is our ember months – October, November and December. I believe when the October returns come in, we will expect rise in what we have been able to gather.

“We are hopeful that November will bring some good tidings and also by December we should be able to round off to meet our target, which is N944bn”, Ali said.

Addressing Customs officers of the FCT Command on Wednesday in Abuja, Ali urged them to shun corrupt practices, just as he assured them that issues of poor remuneration would be resolved with improved revenue.

“If you are caught engaging in any act of corruption, such officer will be made to go through the law. There would be no excuse for corruption,” Ali warned the officers.

Admitting that men and officers of the Service earn poor remunerations, the Customs chief said, “I am not satisfied with what I discovered to be your remuneration given the present living condition, but if you chose to take the short cut by corruptly enriching yourselves ,there is always a consequence for that.

“We can’t improve revenue generation if these leakages persist. So revenue has to improve, discipline stepped up, corruption eliminated, then I can have the moral courage to face Mr. President. So give us the opportunity by abiding with all these so that I can meet him for improved welfare on your behalf,” he assured the officers.

Other agencies Ali had visited are the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), National Copyright Commission, National Environment Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and the Nigeria Prisons Service.