The House of Representatives has asked Vice President Kashim Shettima to convene an emergency meeting of the board of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to resuscitate the 252MW Gbarain power plant in Bayelsa State.
The lawmakers made the call on Thursday following a motion of urgent public importance moved by Oboku Oforji (PDP, Bayelsa) during plenary.
Mr Shettima is the Chairperson of the Board of NDPHC, an entity that owns Gbarain power plants and several power plants in the country.
Other members of the board include Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and Nasiru Idris of Kebbi State, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas) and Ekperikpe Ekpo.
In the motion, Mr Oforji said the Gbarain power plant which was built at a cost of $400 million had been abandoned for the past four years after an inferno that gutted the plant.
Mr Oforji stated that NDPHC has shown a lack of capacity to effectively resuscitate the plant after the inferno.
He explained that the Bayelsa State Government had to rehabilitate some parts of the plant while the core parts lay in waste.
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The lawmaker said despite the importance of the power plant to Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta region, NDPHC has failed to replace the burnt equipment at the power plant.
“Bayelsa State government undertook the rehabilitation and restoration of power supply through the 60MVA,132/33KV power transformer which is currently supplying the Gbarain power station auxiliaries and the host communities through the 2×15 MVA33/11KV injection substation which was not functioning before the intervention,” Mr Oforji said.
The lawmaker explained that the power plant is linked to gas infrastructure that will ensure constant power supply. He noted that despite the strategic importance of the power plant, NDPHC plans to abandon it instead of resuscitating the plant.
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“Saddened that rather than resuscitate the power plant which is built with $400 million, and valued today at over $800million, the management of the NDPHC is proposing to designate the 252MW power station as a construction site, thereby abandoning its primary responsibility of running it to the benefit of the state, the Niger Delta and the nation at large,” Mr Oforji said.
Following the presentation of the motion, the House ruled that the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company should appear before the House Committee on Power and shed light on the state of the company and the Gbarain Power Plant in particular.
Members voted in support of the bill when it was put to vote by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen.
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