A natural-gas-fired power generation facility located in Oyigbo, Rivers State, Afam Genco, otherwise known as Afam Power, has been handed over to Transcorp Plc.
The energy company was transferred to Transcorp on Thursday after it was sold to the publicly quoted firm for N105.3 billion by the federal government.
Both parties signed the Share Sale Purchase Agreement (SSPA) for the transaction at a ceremony held in at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo represented the federal government along with the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, Mr Alex Okoh, while the Chairman of Transcorp Plc, Mr Tony Elumelu, represented the new owners.
The Afam Power in Oyigbo, a town currently in crisis as a result of activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Nigerian Army, has a combined installed capacity of 966MW.
According to Transcorp, “This investment deepens our play in the power sector and takes our overall installed generation capacity as a business to 1,936MW from 972MW installed at Transcorp Power located in Ughelli, Delta State.”
It further said the acquisition of the power plant was “in line with our ambition to generate 25 per cent of Nigeria’s electricity requirements.”
The Afam Power was formerly owned by the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). It was among the nine power assets the federal government put up for sale this year to raise funds for some critical projects in the country.
Transcorp will be expected to first pay 25 per cent of the N105 billion the government sold the power plant and then later pay the balance of 75 per cent.
It would be recalled that in October 2019, Transcorp Power Consortium was announced as the preferred bidder for the Afam Electricity Generation Company by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).
