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Sen Ned Nwoko urged to push FG for completion of Okpai power plant

The Senator representing Delta North district, Senator Ned Nwoko, in the red chambers of the national assembly, has been urged to pursue the federal government for the completion of the Independent Power Plant in Okpai, Ndokwa East council area of Delta state, rather than coercing the state government to do so.

“We expected Senator Nwoko to fight at the national level and make the Federal Government get the project done and not to come to the state to coerce Governor Oborevwori to use state funds to complete the project, Executive Assistant to the Governor on Public Enlightenment (Projects and Policies), Mr. Olisa Ifeajika has stated.

The aide at a news conference on Thursday in Asaba called on Senator Nwoko to rather champion the reconstruction of federal roads that are in terrible conditions in his constituency, including the Onicha-Ugbo-Idumuje-Ugboko-Ewohinmi-Abuja road, which passes through his community (Idumuje-Ugboko) directly.

Recall that Senator Nwoko had carpeted Governor Oborevwori for allegedly refusing to help actualise the step-down of the Okpai Power Plant on the ground that the state is passing through financial doldrums.

According to him, the reasons allegedly given by the governor that the state has no money because he is servicing the debt inherited from the immediate past administration were untenable.

However, Ifeajika, who said that Nigeria operates a three-tier government system with defined roles and functions, further urged Senator Nwoko to focus on the job of bringing democratic dividends from the Federal Government to his constituency, the reason why he was elected by the people.

Nwoko’s attempt to demonise Governor Oborevwori over the IPP Step-Down, a federal government project, was an unfortunate and deliberate intention to create unnecessary tension in the state, he stated.

According to him, “Nigeria’s Constitution operates three tiers of government, and we all know how government functions. At all levels, there is the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary, and they complement each other to function well.

“As constituents of members of the National Assembly from the state, we look up to them to attract development in different dimensions from the Federal Government to the Constituencies.

“Senator Nwoko’s job, like those in the House of Assembly here in Delta, is to work closely with President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Executive Council to attract development to Delta North, and by extension, to the state.

“Members of the House of Assembly here are also expected to work closely with Governor Oborevwori to attract projects and dividends of democracy to their people, just as councillors are expected to work closely with Local Government Council Chairmen to attract projects to their various wards.

“The first phase of the IPP project in Okpai in Ndokwa East, whose work started in 2002, was inaugurated by then President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005, with the capacity to generate 480 megawatts of electricity.

“Senator Nwoko knows where the authority for power generation and distribution in the country lies. He knows that the national grid where generated electricity is warehoused and distributed is under federal control.

“He knew all these and found that there was a need to get the management of the IPP to meet an agreement that was reached before now so that the Okpai community and others around that area could have a step-down.”

The governor’s aide recalled that Senator Nwoko had on March 7, 2024, moved a motion on the floor of the Senate asking the IPP Joint Venture partners—the Federal Government, represented by NNPCL, Agip, and Conoco—to complete the step-down project.

He disclosed that the motion also urged the Federal Government to investigate the delay in distributing 100 megawatts of electricity to Okpai and adjoining communities through the proposed step-down.

“The motion didn’t say that Delta State Government should carry out or complete the step-down. This is because the state government was not involved in any way.

“It did not also ask that the Delta State Government should be investigated for the delay in distributing the 100 megawatts of electricity from the IPP.

“Senator Nwoko knew where to situate the motion, and it was properly situated. We, therefore, find his utterances a bit uncharitable for him to begin to arm-twist Governor Oborevwori to pick the bill for the Okpai project, which was not in any way within the purview of the state government.

“Senator Nwoko is in Abuja to bring whatever is available there to Deltans. We see a situation where he was trying to coerce and stampede the governor as something akin to blackmail.

“It became more uncharitable when he said that the governor must bring out the money to pay the contractors upfront. This is very irregular,” he said.

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