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New Independent Power Station to Begin Production in Abuja
By Emeka Uwadibue
The Guardian Newspaper Sunday,
October 28, 2001

PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo's drive to ensure uninterrupted power supply will receive a boost tomorrow when a new 15 megawatt Independent Power Project will start production in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

The $7.7 million project is a joint venture by the United States – based Cummins Corporation, the biggest power generating set manufacturer in the world; Geometic Power Corporation, also of the United States, and Renatech Nigeria Ltd.

Though the initial agreement to establish the project was signed last December between the Nigerian government and the consortium of engineering companies, the 15 MW Abuja Power Station was built within three months.

The new IPP is an emergency power station that is designed to grapple with the profound energy crisis which the Obasanjo democratic government inherited two years ago from the military regime.

It will last two years in the first instance, and the agreement may be renewed until the energy situation becomes satisfactory.

Twenty two Cummins Power generating sets of 1,000 KVA (or 1 megawatt) each have been installed to provide 15 megawatts of electricity to Abuja; only 15 of the 22 generators can provide electricity at any given time, as the remaining seven will be on standby, and can be activated when any of the rest are due for regular engineering checks or repairs.

“This is the first time,” enthuses General Ishaya Bakut, former Commander of the West African Military Monitoring Group in Liberia who is now a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, “that Nigerian professional engineers have been assigned the task of playing a leading role in the establishment of a power station. And the indigenous engineering community is proud of the stupendous patriotism and professional skills and judgment which our professional colleagues have exhibited in carrying out his path-breaking national assignment.”

The U.S-based Geometric Power Corporation is led by Professor Bart Nnaji, a former Minister of Science and Technology who is the world's leading authority in robotics engineering at the University of Pittsburg .

The Renatech Engineering Company is led by Dr. Okey Onyemulukwe, a Professor of Engineering at Orlando in Florida , and Mr. Obiora Nwizu and Abuja based consultant.