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Gencos: Nation In Darkness Because We Are Owed N1.6trn Since 2013

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Power Generation Companies (Gencos) under the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) yesterday stated that the power supply situation in the country was worsening because they were owed over N1.6 trillion since 2013.

APGC’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Joy Ogaji, in a briefing in Abuja, argued that a situation where the energy dispatched by the power generators was used as an index for power generation capacity was detrimental to their survival.
In the past couple of weeks, the already bad power supply situation in the country had worsened as players in the sector continued to trade blames as to whose table the buck stops.

“We are currently owed N1.644 trillion. One of the reasons that the power plants are down is due to inefficient management of the grid,” Ogaji said.

According to her, the Gencos have exhausted all their borrowing sources, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had reportedly warned the banks to desist from lending money to them.
She stated, “If you give us gas, provide forex to carry out maintenance. I have told you most of the units are down and they need money to fix them.

“Give us enough money to pay our gas suppliers because it is pre-payment. But for power, it takes and pay later. There is no way that this misalignment will help us.”

But Ogaji stated admitted that at the moment, the Gencos were generating an average of 4,000MW.
However, the debt claim by the Gencos was immediately refuted by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET). NBET disputed the figures quoted by the power generators, saying only companies with active gas supply and transportation contracts are paid for unutilized capacity.

The Head, Corporate Communication, NBET, Henrietta Ighomrore, explained that in the country, only five power generation companies with active Gas Purchase Agreement (GPA) were entitled to be paid for unused capacity.
According to her, claims that the Gencos have the capacity to generate 9,000MW are not accurate, as inspections by NBET had shown that the so-called capacity does not exist.

Earlier, Ighomrore argued that the Gencos had always been paid as and when due, explaining that in the last payment cycle alone, the Gencos were paid N38 billion for electricity distributed on the grid.

According to her, NBET has paid the Gencos over 90 percent of their invoices. She noted that the company paid the generators almost immediately remittances from the Discos were received.
However, Ogaji noted that the illiquidity caused by the huge sums owed to the Gencos by NBET had continued to frustrate them and render them incapable of meeting their obligations.

Such obligations, she said, included Operations and Maintenance (O&M) as and when due, procurement of critical capital, spare parts and accessories, payment, and servicing of existing loans from lenders and financiers, and employee- obligations.

Ogaji listed foreign exchange as another challenge faced by the hydroelectric power plants, whose concession fees, she maintained were “dollarised.”
She said most of the electricity generated in Nigeria came from gas-fired turbines, explaining that Gencos have consistently been dealing with unending gas-related challenges, which inhibit optimal generation.

According to her, issues of gas volume, gas quality, gas pressure, and gas transportation have consistently curtailed capacity utilization by Gencos thereby affecting generation.
Ogaji stated, “Unfortunately, the unenforceable state of the contracts in the NESI and the broken cycle of payment assurance has made the enforcement of what would ordinarily be basic obligations of parties to the industry agreements, impossible.

“Since 2013 when the power sector was partially privatized till date, weak and inadequate infrastructure (transmission and distribution) have continued to render inconsequential, a significant portion of the generation capacities recovered or added by Gencos through huge investments done by them to increase their respective generation capacities.”

According to her, while the owners of the Gencos invested and increased generation capacity up to 13,000MW across the country, no corresponding investment and improvement was made at the transmission and distribution ends. The result, she said, was the significant stranded capacity of Gencos.

Ogaji added, “The persistence of this anomaly over these years, compelled Gencos to begin to question the commercial reasonability of continued investment in recovery or expansion of generation capacity that would end up being stranded and not utilized to transmit and distribute electricity to end-users who are yearning for same.”
She said the foundational agreements, which Gencos were told existed before, no longer exist, after they had commenced performance, with dire implications for power generators.

Ogaji stated, “We should address the root cause and not the symptoms, for the sustainability of the NESI and the power sector.

“The current state of the national grid must be addressed, otherwise we will continue to always deny Nigerians their legitimate expectation of unhindered rights to a reliable supply of electricity.”

Checks revealed that all the parties’ positions were not entirely accurate. Firstly, it is wrong to claim that only five generation companies have gas supply agreements, meaning that there is no level playing field. Further checks revealed that the Gencos were being owed not only capacity charges but also for interest and energy charges as well – value which is yet to be determined. And also the forex issue is not restricted to hydros alone, but it affects gas fire and thermal plants as well.

Additionally, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is equally carrying out maintenance work on their lines. Furthermore, a lot of the gas companies were also doing maintenance work on their infrastructure, limiting the supply of gas to generation companies. All these put together made power supply epileptic in the country

BIG STORY

Doyin Okupe Reacts To Peter Obi’s Viral Video, Says I Cannot Support Him Again

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Doyin Okupe, the former director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign in 2023, says he “cannot support” Peter Obi again.

Okupe spoke on Monday during an interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

He was reacting to a viral clip of Obi commenting on how the country’s economic situation offers little relief to people in the south-west, despite President Bola Tinubu being from the zone.

“Let us talk about what is happening today. Rice is about N100,000. We are not even sure where we are going to be. ‘It’s our turn’, ‘he is a Yoruba man’ — ask the people in Ogun, here is there any place you people buy bread cheaper?” Obi said in the viral clip.

The video generated mixed reactions on social media, with some supporting Obi’s comments while others criticised him.

Adding his voice to the criticism, Okupe described the former LP presidential candidate’s remark as an “insult” to people in the south-west.

He said Obi’s statement publicly demeaned the south-west, even though “eminent Yoruba people” had supported him during his presidential campaign in 2023.

“When Obi made that statement, it insulted us. I am a Yoruba man; I left everything and followed Obi.

“For the first time, Obasanjo left his circle of influence and deviated to support Obi,” Okupe said.

“I do not regret supporting Peter Obi. But now I cannot do it again. The reason why I did it was because we agreed that a southern president must emerge.

“I was approached that if a southern president must emerge, which zone must it come to? I said the south-east.

“If all these eminent Yoruba people supported you, why now bring us down publicly? It is wrong.”

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Lagos Muslim Cleric Bags Life Jail For Raping 14-Yr-Old Girl Inside Mosque

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Alani Rafiu, a Muslim cleric, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for raping a 14-year-old girl inside a mosque.

Justice Rahman Oshodi delivered the verdict on Monday, after finding Rafiu guilty of child defilement. The cleric was arraigned on October 28, 2021, for having sexual intercourse with the teenager, but pleaded not guilty, leading to a trial.

During the trial, the prosecution, led by B. Boye, presented three witnesses, including the victim, who testified against Rafiu. The prosecution provided compelling evidence, including the victim’s testimony and medical reports, which revealed a calculated pattern of predatory behavior by the cleric.

Justice Oshodi emphasized that Rafiu’s actions were particularly egregious due to his position of trust as a religious instructor and family friend.

The judge stated that the gravity of the offence could not be overstated, as Rafiu exploited the victim’s vulnerability and betrayed the trust placed in him.

“The gravity of your offence cannot be overstated. You betrayed the trust placed in you as a religious instructor and family friend.

“Instead of nurturing and protecting a vulnerable 14-year-old child entrusted to your spiritual care, you repeatedly sexually abused her in a place of worship.

“This conduct is criminal and represents a profound violation of secular and religious principles,” he said.

Oshodi further held that the evidence revealed a calculated pattern of predatory behaviour, as the convict deliberately isolated the child, exploited her vulnerability, and bought her silence with money.

“The evidence revealed a calculated pattern of predatory behaviour. You deliberately isolated the child, exploited her vulnerability, and bought her silence with money.

“The physical and psychological trauma inflicted on this young girl is immeasurable. At an age when she should have been focused on her education and development, she was subjected to experiences that no child should endure,” the judge held.

Oshodi also stated that having carefully considered all the evidence before the court, there was compelling and consistent proof establishing that the prosecutrix was indeed a child below the age of 18 years at the time of the alleged offence in May 2021.

He said the evidence manifested through multiple sources.

Oshodi said, “When the prosecutrix testified before this court, she stated that she was 15 years old and 14 when the alleged incident occurred.

“Notably, she was still attending primary school then, explicitly saying she was in Primary 3.

“The prosecutrix’s educational level, being in Primary 3, at the time of her testimony, while not determinative of age, provides supporting circumstantial evidence consistent with her being a young teenager rather than an adult.

“The consistency of these multiple sources of evidence – the police and guardian testimony, the prosecutrix’s evidence, and circumstantial evidence – all converge to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the prosecutrix was 14 years old at the time of the alleged offence in May 2021.

“The defence led no evidence to contradict these age-related facts, nor was the prosecutrix’s age challenged during cross-examination of any of the prosecution witnesses”.

The judge said the prosecutrix provided a detailed, firsthand account of sexual intercourse with the convict.

“Her testimony was specific. She offered a detailed sequential account of the sexual assault. She testified that at the mosque (where the convict, whom she referred to as Alfa), isolated her. He would then lock the door, remove her underwear, and instruct her to lie on the floor.

“She explicitly stated that Rafiu would then insert his penis into her vagina. When asked about frequency, she confirmed this occurred three times.

“She further testified that these acts would result in bleeding, which the convict would have her clean with a handkerchief. Afterwards, he would instruct her to put her underwear back on before taking her outside,” he said.

According to Oshodi, this testimony provides a direct account of penile-vaginal penetration, with specific details about the sequence of events, location, frequency, and aftermath of the sexual acts.

“The prosecutrix maintained during cross-examination that this occurred three times, explicitly stating, “He had sex with me three times.”

The judge noted that the prosecutrix testimony remained consistent even when challenged about the timeframe, clarifying that these incidents occurred.

He said the medical evidence further strengthened the evidence of sexual intercourse. It reports that the transection found in the prosecutrix’s vagina was “consistent with forceful penetrative injury to the [prosecutrix’s] anus and vagina”.

Before passing down the verdict, Oshodi said, “What makes your conduct particularly egregious is your abuse of religious authority and the sacred space of a mosque to perpetrate these violations.

“Places of worship should be sanctuaries of safety and spiritual growth, not venues for the exploitation of children.

“The medical evidence and the prosecutrix’s testimony paint a disturbing picture of the physical harm you caused.

The bleeding she experienced and your callous provision of a handkerchief to clean up the evidence of your abuse demonstrate a shocking disregard for her well-being.

“This court must protect children from sexual predators and send a clear message that such conduct will be met with the full force of the law.

“The sentence must reflect society’s abhorrence of child sexual abuse and serve as a deterrent to others who might contemplate similar crimes.

“Therefore, I now sentence you to life imprisonment by section 137 of the Criminal Law. Furthermore, under sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law, 2021, I order that you be registered as a sex offender in the Sex Offenders Register maintained by the Lagos State Government,” he held.

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BIG STORY

UPDATE: Minors Freed As Court Strikes Out Suit Against 119 #EndBadGovernance Protesters

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A federal high court in Abuja has struck out the suit against 119 protesters charged over the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest.

Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, dismissed the case following an application by M.D. Abubakar, counsel to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

Abubakar had requested permission to take over and discontinue the suit.

During the session on Tuesday, Abubakar asked the court to allow the AGF to take over the charge.

This development comes just hours after President Bola Tinubu directed the attorney-general and law enforcement to release all minors detained over the protest.

As of the time of reporting, all the minors have been freed.

 

More to come…

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