The Afam 3 Fast Plant in Oyigbo LGA of Rivers State which can supply power to two million homes was commissioned on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
The Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Temitope Fashedemi, who said the realisation of the project is one of the landmark achievements of the FG in the power sector.
He said this was in its endeavour to reduce the gap in the supply and demand for electricity in Nigeria.
This notable achievement, he said, would not have been made possible without President Muhamadu’s political will. He thus showered encomiums on President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership for his support to Nigeria power sector.
The Minister said: “I am excited today to be in an Afam, one of our most energy clusters in the country. If the Afam cluster is to operate at full capacity, it will provide about 40 percent of our generated energy today.
“Nigeria does not have an option to be a gas power country alongside sensible usage of renewables as part of energy transition journey.”
He said the Transcorp group is one of the nation’s leading gas power players in the country today. “Just yesterday, at the National Council of the Privatization, Ugheli gas plant was delisted from BPE’s monitoring framework as a result of the positive performance and improvement that Transcorp has made in Ugheli Power Plant since they acquired it since 2013.
“I have also heard the great news about the turnaround ongoing with Afam Plc which is just next to us, which was sold alongside the Afam 3 Fast Power that we are here to commission today.”
He recalled how Afam Plc was taken over from Ministry of Power with usable capacity of about 70mw in 2021. “What I hear today is that already capacity exceeding 100mw is being recovered from that plant.
“Nigeria today, has the most gas power capacity in sub-Sahara Africa but our utilisation is not where it ought to be. We need to continue partnerships between our original equipment manufacturers and the GE group and our critical investors, like the Transcorp group, to not only build new power plants but also to recover existing and available capacity.
“The Buhari administration has made significant strides in improving the economy of the Nigeria electricity supply industry. We now need players in the market to make the sector deliver more megawatts for our large and teeming population.
“While we will continue to use solar to electrify our rural communities, the government is making a headway through the Ministry of Petroleum and NNPCL in ensuring gas supply stability and security but it won’t be enough. To only sustain what we have, we must open new dedicated gas plants specific to power and for industrial usage.”
He said the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) are working to ensure the spinning reserves can be integrated to allow for more stable generation and improve our energy mix on the grid.
“We will like to commend Mr Tony Elumelu for driving investment in the Nigeria sector across the value chain. Your team has proved to be the best in the sector so far.
“The new structuring that made this project a reality is something that should be commended and replicated wherever possible. This notable collaboration has ensured that we are commissioning Afam 3 Power project today with the capacity to inject additional 240 megawatts electricity into the national grid.”
Saying this is commendable, he said this would certainly improve the electricity supply to the nation along with the attendant growth of our economy and GDP.
“What we are celebrating today is an exampler of our Public Private Partnership. The Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and National Council of Privatisation (NCP) in deed deserve huge commendation for continually identifying and executing credible transactions to bring succur to the Nigerian people. And indeed His Excellency, Mr Vice President, we congratulate Sir .
“The Rivers State government also deserves commendation for continually creating the enabling environment for businesses and investments. I specifically commend His Excellency, Gov Nyesom Wike and his team for playing host to us here today.
“Finally, I wish to thank the Chairman, Transcorp group, for this huge lofty achievement, the power plant is indeed very impressive.”
