How Afreximbank’s $50m Lifeline Lit Up Aba Again 

Aba, South-east Nigeria’s commercial and industrial heartbeat, is experiencing an unprecedented power renaissance. Businesses that once choked on diesel fumes are now running 24 hours, hospitals are cutting energy costs by 40 per cent, schools are improving research and learning, and families are preserving food and planning their lives with confidence. The funding partnership between the African Export-Import Bank and Geometric Power made all these possible. Peter Uzoho reports.

At the centre of the above-mentioned turnaround is the Aba Integrated Power Project promoted by Geometric Power Limited and a decisive $50 million completion funding by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), which rescued a $900 million investment delayed for nearly 20 years by politics and double-sale of its ring-fence. 

A recent tour of the Geometric Power plant at Osisioma and customers of Aba Power Limited by

THISDAY, reveal a consistent story: reliable power is driving production, cutting costs, creating jobs and restoring faith in private-led power reform in Nigeria.

For manufacturers in Osisioma Industrial Layout and Ariaria axis, the difference is stark.

Miss Vivian Aneke, Manager of Fineporter Nigeria Ltd, producers of POP for ceilings and interior decorations, said supply has been constant, resulting to growth in output.

“It has enabled us grow our production from 40 to 75 per cent,” she said.

At Damson Industries, makers of shoe components, Chairman, Mr. David Mmadueke said the company has never used diesel since it started operation with electricity supply from Aba Power.

“We have light here morning and night. The only time we don’t have light is when they have shortage of gas,” he said. He compared the service favourably to when the area was under Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), and appealed for tariff review.

The President of Aba North Shoe Plaza, where all kinds of men’s shoes are made, which houses over 2,000 shops, Mr. Obioma Onyebuchi, said the plaza switched to Aba Power on January 14 and has since enjoyed steady supply.

“We no longer use petrol or diesel generators in this plaza. They made sure everyone here is metered,” he said.

Mr. Janson Eke, who runs Indiana Lounge at Enyimba City Plaza, said reliability has allowed businesses to plan.

“There is no comparison between using electricity from Aba Power and diesel or petrol generators,” he said. “It enables us to plan our businesses and operate uninterruptedly.”

Eight different businesses, including lounge, spa and boutique, run 24 hours from the facility. He noted that other businesses are switching to Aba Power because prepaid meters ensure transparency.

For Director of Commercial Operations at Aba Power Limited,  Mr. Emeka Ngwok, the metering success is a deliberate strategy to end estimated billing, a major source of dispute elsewhere. Aba Power says it has metered 98 per cent of its customers, with 20 per cent through Meter Asset Provider, (MAP) and 80 per cent through the National Mass Metering Programme.

“We have active customer base of about 250,000,” Ngwoke said. Residential and small commercial users take 75 per cent of energy, while corporate organizations take 25 per cent.

The company has also deployed advanced metering infrastructure, (AMI), with smart meters that can be monitored remotely, and runs day and night monitoring teams to curb energy theft. Last month alone, the commercial department recorded 275 established cases of infractions, including night hooking on grey conductors.

The Power Dividend

The impact extends beyond factories to social institutions and households. The Administrator of Living World Mission Hospital, one of Aba Power’s major customers, Mr. Charles Mazi, said stable supply has cut energy cost by 40 per cent.

“With that, all our equipment and personnel are busy 24 hours, ensuring that we provide maximum care to our patients,” he said.

At Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, formerly Abia State Polytechnic, Provost, Dr. Kalu Okoro said the institution got connected within 48 hours of a phone call to Prof. Barth Nnaji, the visioner of the project. 

“The reliable electricity supply from Aba Power has significantly impacted on our research works. It has helped to improve teaching and learning,” he said. He added that the school’s energy cost has dropped by 80 per cent and that reduced generator use is improving life expectancy by cutting carbon monoxide inhalation in the neighbourhood.

For residents like Mrs. Ada Ngozi Greg-Ilobinso, the change is personal. She described how steady power has transformed food management, house chores and health.

“I can now buy foodstuff in bulk and save a lot because there is no wastage,” she said. “I can use my air fryer for my plantain, less oil.” 

She said her household energy cost dropped from about N600,000 on diesel monthly to N75,000 on Aba Power. 

“We’ve been using Aba Power since last year and this year it has really become more regular,” she said.

The sentiment was echoed across Aba: when supply dipped for three to four days recently due to gas shortage, customers who had abandoned generators were forced back to diesel, a jolt that showed how much lifestyle had changed.

Afreximbank’s $50m Intervention 

The Geometric story is one of resilience. Conceived after a March 2003 visit to Aba by then Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, where small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in Ariaria said their greatest challenge was power, the Aba Integrated Power Project was granted a lease agreement in 2004 and amended in 2005 to align with power sector reform. 

Chairman of Geometric Power Group, Prof. Barth Nnaji, said the idea was to provide reliable, affordable and environmentally friendly power to drive economic and social development.

But privatisation in 2013 led to double-sale of the Aba ring-fence despite over $700 million already invested. The project stalled for seven years, with staff retained to maintain facilities.

Group Managing Director of Geometric Power Group, Mrs. Agatha Nnaji, said Afreximbank provided the funding that enabled completion and commissioning.

“At that time, we needed $50 million, and they provided that,” she said.

She explained that most banks would have run from a project with such government-related challenges, but Afreximbank saw the vision and impact. Its team brought technical advisors, financial experts and commissioned an independent survey of industrialists’ willingness to pay.

“They saw the potential of Aba as an industrial city in Africa,” she said. “That gave them comfort.”

Nnaji put total investment in excess of $900 million, making it the biggest single private sector investment in the South-east. He praised Afreximbank’s role as turning point after years of maintaining assets without income.

“Politics got in the way, human error got into the project, and it got delayed when we were just about to commission,” Mrs. Nnaji said. Today, the intervention is validated by customer testimonies calling on Afreximbank to increase funding to enable expansion to more customers and businesses.

Reliability and Future Expansion

Geometric Power operates Nigeria’s first indigenous, independent and integrated power company handling both generation and distribution through Geometric Power Aba Limited and Aba Power Limited Electric. It holds a NERC license to generate 188MW and has installed 141MW in first phase, three GE LM6000 turbines of 47MW each. It can meet demand with two turbines.

Average consumption in Aba is now about 50 to 60MW, down from 90MW pre-metering when wastage was high, because customers now switch off when leaving home knowing light will be available on return. Installed gas pipeline capacity is 12-inch, sufficient for 500MW.

“We have built the foundation for the fourth turbine, which will make it up to 188 megawatts,” Mrs. Nnaji said.

The company also built eight 15MVA transmission substations and installed steel tubular poles buried 10 metres deep with compact bases costing N1.5 million per foundation as of 2013. The design allows poles to absorb impact and withstand storms, unlike 40-feet wooden high tension poles where birds or snakes cause tripping.

“The distance from one another is also very high. So chances of having issues is not there,” Ngwoke said.

Gas is supplied by Heirs Energies through a dedicated 27km pipeline from Owaza to Osisioma, averaging 9 million standard cubic feet per day. Aged production infrastructure remains a challenge, with spare parts flown in from the US during recent emergency. As backup, Geometric has arrangement with Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to buy emergency power, though reconciliation delays affected response recently.

On green transition, Geometric’s GMD said the plant is open to solar, waste-to-power and other options, but natural gas remains major fuel for next 20 years, given Nigeria’s 215 trillion standard cubic feet reserves. Steam from turbines was initially planned for Guinness, which has left.

Lessons for Nigeria’s Power Sector

Nnaji described the Aba IPP as a model that should make difference if done right, proving Nigerians can have affordable, sustainable 24/7 supply when sponsors are driven by impact, not just money.

“We’ve been the guinea pig for the power sector,” she said. “Anybody else coming to replicate this model would never go through one-tenth of what we have gone through”, she said.

Nnaji said the primary goal remains providing reliable and affordable electricity that is environmentally friendly, guided by its INSPIRED vision: Integrity, Social Responsibility, Professionalism, Innovation, Reliability, Dynamic. Over 90 per cent of plant operations are managed by Nigerians, with local content including Innoson and Peugeot vehicles and Cutix and Coleman cables.

The company has over 253,000 metered customers, about 96 per cent metering penetration, highest among 12 Distribution companies (Discos), achieved at about N43 billion through vendor finance, showing partner confidence as a creditworthy Disco without federal subsidy, unlike other Discos where only Band A is cost-reflective.

“It costs $1million to $1.3 million to generate one megawatt from gas,” Prof. Nnaji said, noting gas remains cheapest abundant fuel in SoutheastE/Southsouth.

Expansion is underway. Aba Power has started supplying underserved communities in Rivers State after permission from Port Harcourt Disco and regulator, and is in talks with Governor Alex Otti to cover remaining eight LGAs of Abia beyond nine in ring-fence. The Enugu-Port Harcourt axis is also being considered.

“Anybody else coming to replicate this model, by God’s grace, would never go through what we have gone through,” Mrs. Nnaji said, recommending replication in commercially viable industrial cities like Kaduna, Kano, Onitsha and Enugu where willing buyers exist and fuel source is assured, with two years from financial close to commissioning if negotiations are right.

For Aba, the $50 million Afreximbank lifeline has translated to measurable economic growth, lower cost of doing business, improved health and learning outcomes.  

Indeed, it is a demonstration that private-led integrated power, when shielded from political reversal and backed by development finance that understands Africa’s industrial potential, can light up a city and free a nation from generator fumes.