LAGOS – The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has advocated the need for liquidity in the power sector as a major solution needed to stabilize the troubled sector.
He disclosed this in his recent submission to the committee investigating the controversial Makeup Gas ( MUG) Reprocessing Deal Involving the Ministry of Finance, NDPHC, Calabar Generation Company Limited and ACUGAS Limited.
He said: “Just as the Ministry of Justice was not aware of the contract agreement, the Ministry of Finance was also not part of it from the beginning but since the government is a continuum, the Ministry of Finance later came into it to facilitate the required liquidity.
“The issues on the ground about contracts agreements being investigated by the Senate Committee on Power is not about restructuring but providing the required liquidity which the Ministry of Finance is doing through collaboration with the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas ( NLNG).
“Since NLNG pays gas in dollars, the Ministry is collaborating with it for a practical solution of bringing liquidity into the age-long contract agreement through a Deed of Transfer.
“Make Up Gas ( MUG) belongs to Calabar, Calabar belongs to NDPHC and NDPHC belongs to Federal and state governments with Federal Government having 52.68%”, he said.
Speaking, the Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, said the company as a result of the gas supply agreement with ACUGAS Limited, is taking Gas from three out of five units and generating power from the Calabar plant to the National Grid which according to him, is the best power plant in the entire country.
He said NDPHC went out of its way to construct an 80-kilometre gas pipeline for utilization of MUG in Calabar and Alaoji power plants.
He, however, lamented that problems relating to systemic transition, frequency and voltage issues, have not made the firm achieve the desired results.
