The Aba Ringfence comprising nine of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State received normal electricity on Wednesday rather than the planned reduction quantum arising from the repair of cuts on the oil pipeline that support gas operations, caused last weekend by vandals seeking crude oil and petroleum products from the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) traversing Imo and Rivers states.

The ringfence was scheduled to receive about 40megawatts less than the normal supply for 10 hours yesterday, but, according to a leading electricity consultant in Lagos, Engineer Cliff Eneh, who used to work for the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) in Lagos, the Geometric Power Group which owns Aba Power, may have convinced the oil pipeline operator and Heirs Energies, the gas supplier to the 188megawatt Geometric Power Plant, to shift the planned reduction in gas supply to this weekend.

"The postponement is the smart thing to do", declared Engineer Vincent Chukwueke, a respected gas consultant and former senior manager with The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in an evening briefing.

"The postponement will enable industrialists in Aba and the environs to operate their factories throughout the working days of this week.

"Manufacturers in this country have been going through a difficult period for obvious reasons, so whatever support they can get from any quarters is appreciated; it is in the overriding national interest to support manufacturers".

The decision has been praised by the President of the Aba Industrialists Association, Sir Alex Maduakor, who told newsmen that "Nigeria cannot progress unless far-reaching steps are taken to address the numerous challenges facing manufacturers because we are the backbone of the economy".

Engr Eneh, also former distribution expert with the Texas Power and Light in Dallas, United States, recalled that the Aba Independent Power Project was started a little over 20 years ago when the then World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, and the then Nigeria's Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who is now the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General, requested Professor Bart Nnaji to set up a 50MW gas-fired plant to assist small, middle and large manufacturers in Aba who were complaining of a paralyzing electric crisis.

"They made the request on March 16, 2004, after a series of discussions with the industrialists", said Eneh, who disclosed that Wolfensohn and Okonjo-Iweala approached Nnaji because of his experience of leading a team of Nigerian engineers to build the 22MW Abuja Emergency Plant when the Abuja ?Shiroro Transmission Line was being constructed from 2000 to 2001.

"Professor Nnaji and his team", explained Eneh, "were the first Nigerians to build a power plant in Nigeria's history.

"It is appropriate that Aba Power which he founded is giving pride of place to manufacturers".

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