I read with utter dismay and anger a press statement from the Imo State Government signed by Declan Emelumba, the Honourable Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation, and Strategy, alleging that the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC, EEDC, is planning to unleash major power outages in Imo State in a bid to frustrate and sabotage the Light Up Imo Project that is currently ongoing in some areas of the state.

At first, I thought it was just mere misinformation from attention seekers; however, seeing the story carried by reputable national dailies countered my initial perceptions and proved that it was actually written and circulated by the state Government.

It is one of the worst press releases I have seen in my over six decades on earth; owing to how empty and daft it was. As rhetoric eclectically brewed by the Imo State Government, I am moved to ask: What concrete evidence does the Imo State Government have to support the claim that EEDC plans massive electricity outages? Are there internal memos, emails, or statements from EEDC officials? Why would EEDC risk reputational damage by deliberately sabotaging electricity supply in Imo State? Wouldn’t this affect its credibility across all areas it serves? How would EEDC physically carry out a massive power outage without affecting its own infrastructure and revenues? Could the announcement be an attempt to preemptively justify potential failures or blackouts linked to Orashi Electricity Company rather than EEDC? These and more are the questions that kept running through my mind.

The said press statement claimed that EEDC, after the alleged planned outage, would turn around to blame Orashi Electricity Company Ltd for the blackouts; that is a well premised attack on a company’s reputation; and coming from the state Government, I am compelled to call the Orashi Electricity Company Ltd, its licensing as well as its operations, a complete fraud of the century; an information I owe Imolites as truth.

First and foremost, Orashi Electricity Company Ltd was incorporated in the Corporate Affairs Commission on the 28th of May 2024 with four shareholders, namely: Imo State Government 5%, Maureen Okorogu 9.5%, Ndukwe Frances 59.85%, and Catherine Anumodu 25.65%. After its incorporation, the Imo State Government, through the Imo State Electricity Regulatory Commission ISERC, gave it an interim licence to operate on the 13th of July 2024; less than three months after its establishment and without any due process. During the approval of the interim licensing, the state Government charged the company to distribute electricity across the twenty seven Local Government Areas under the Light Up Imo initiative; knowing fully well that it had no operational capacity.

It is noteworthy that the State Government established ISERC on the 3rd of June 2024 after adopting the contents of the new Electricity Act 2023, which gave state Governments the right to generate, distribute, and regulate their own energy; this happened twenty days before NERC officially announced that Imo State was free to operate its own electricity market. While handing over power to ISERC on the 22nd of June 2024, the Chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC, Alhaji Sanusi Garba, stated that their operations would start on the 1st of July 2024.

A critical look at Orashi Electricity Company Ltd’s incorporation, licensing, and operations reveals that there are many things the state Government is hiding; it is clear that the company is a private business using the state Government as a shield to thrive and destroy another organisation’s operations. The glaring aspect is that those being fronted are individuals who do not understand even the basics of secrecy. Let us ask ourselves the following questions: Why does the state Government own only 5% of a company it claims belongs to Imo people? Who are the directors and true owners of Orashi Electricity Company Ltd? What track record do they have prior to joining Orashi? The answers are simple; they are individuals fronted by top Government officials; if not, why are the directors faceless and unknown?

Another important question that will unearth more hidden facts about Orashi Electricity Company Ltd concerns how their contract was awarded; was it through bidding? Who evaluated their technical capacity and how? What is their source of funding? Is it from state funds, bank partnerships, or loans? If it is a loan, at what rate? The answers to these questions will further expose the personalities behind the 95% shareholding and how the shares were allocated. If the Imo State Government claims that Orashi Electricity Company Ltd is for Imolites but holds only 5%, then it is clear that the Government is using state resources to run a private business.

Aside these revelations, there are additional facts that expose deeper irregularities surrounding Orashi Electricity Company Ltd; for instance, the company has no published financial statements, operational blueprint, or documented network expansion plan; yet it was given authority to take over electricity distribution across the entire state. No genuine distribution company can function without audited accounts, technical partners, and environmental impact assessments; but Orashi has none. It has no known engineers, no substations, no metering infrastructure, and no history of handling high voltage installations; yet it was hurriedly granted an interim licence that ordinarily requires detailed feasibility studies and network safety inspections.

Furthermore, Orashi has never tendered proof of capacity before any regulatory body; nor has it introduced itself formally to electricity consumers. No public stakeholder consultation was held to assess its competence, which is a statutory requirement before granting a distribution licence. Even more disturbing is that the company is not listed anywhere among registered distribution operators or embedded generation partners; industry insiders confirm that some of its supposed operational teams were hastily recruited political loyalists with no electrical training. If Orashi truly belonged to Imo people, why were the procurement processes and ownership details kept secret? Why did the Government not publish a call for expressions of interest, as is standard for major infrastructure projects? All these facts point to one undeniable conclusion; Orashi Electricity Company Ltd is a carefully packaged smokescreen designed to exploit state resources under the cover of power sector reform.

Prof Onwueri Longinus,writes from Owerri.
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