The nine-year tussle between Geometric Power and Interstate Electric that hindered Aba, the commercial hub of Eastern Nigeria, from enjoying a 24-hour power supply has been laid to rest as Geometric Power paid $26 million re-acquisition value of the Aba ring-fenced area, yesterday.


The asset was handed over by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) through the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) at a brief event in Abuja on Wednesday, February 16, 2022

This latest development has been seen as a great achievement for Nigeria’s power sector and would ensure a more efficient electricity supply to Aba city and its environment.


The $500 million Geometric/Aba power plant has the capacity to produce and distribute about 141 megawatts (mw) of electricity in its first phase, with new distribution lines, four new sub-stations and three rehabilitated sub-stations.

The protracted tussle between Geometric Power and Interstate Electric Company, owner of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), over ownership of the asset and related issues have posed a serious challenge for successive administrations since 2005.


Prof Barth Nnaji, chairman/founder, Geometric Power Limited, said the Aba ring-fenced project would really bring a new model of how to deliver electricity in the country.

“We are very delighted that today has come that we have gotten Aba ring-fenced and we are ready to give reliable electricity to the people of Aba,” an elated Nnaji, who is also Nigeria’s former minister of power, told BusinessDay after the handover.

Explaining the long tussle, Nnaji said, “ The issue was just simple: the former government sold what was rightfully ours to the people who acquired EEDC.

“So, they simply bundled the Aba ringed-fence as part of EEDC and gave it to them. But when they were doing it, they did it knowingly.

“And that is why we went to court and that is why all the processes, and we are very grateful that this government has mediated and resolved the issue.”

According to Nnaji, his company is also quite grateful that those involved in the acquisition, EEDC, along with Afrinvest saw reason to resolve the matter; “we have settled, and we have paid; we have now paid the acquisition price, which is $26 million.”

Afreximbank, the key lender, will bring on close to $50 million of which $26 million has been used to reacquire the asset, while the balance is to basically complete infrastructure and ensure it can deliver the much needed power the area requires in boosting industrialisation and export capacity.

Speaking on the new strategic plans for the Aba asset, Nnaji maintained that first of all, anybody acquiring a power distribution company (Disco) should have the financial and technical capacity, and that is what we did in Aba.

“We have actually made the necessary investments to ensure there are no issues in terms of reliability for electricity supply. We have embedded generation and distribution, which ensures a reliable supply of electricity.

“We have invested about eight times the amount of the acquisition in Aba already. We built new substations, new power lines, in fact over 140km of new lines. We built four brand new substations. When we came in, there were only three substations – 2 by 15MPH each, so we built exactly the same size of four brand new ones.