One of the oldest power facilities in Nigeria, the Ijora power station at IjoraOlopa, will soon wear a new look as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company are in talks. TCN wants to buy the facility from NELMCO for use as a workshop for repairs of their transformers, among others, OlamilekanFawas reports.

The Ijora Power Station, according to records, was formally commissioned in 1923. It was the major source of electricity supply to Lagos and environs during the colonial period. At inception, it had a capacity for generating up to 20 megawatts (Mw) of electricity from steam turbines and coal-fired boilers. It was, however, constantly upgraded.

By 1943, the city had become “entirely dependent for supply” on the two turbo-alternators in use at Ijora. In the late 1940s, a second phase of development was commenced at Ijora – known as “Ijora B,” which had a generating capacity of 85 megawatts. The station was oil-fired and this made it the most modern power station in the country. Ijora B was formally commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II of England when she visited Nigeria in 1956. The third stage of construction in the 1960s added 30.2 megawatts of electricity to take the total installed capacity of the station to 142 megawatts. The fourth phase of development at the station witnessed the addition of three new gas turbines in 1978, each with a capacity of 20megawatts.

However, the Ijora power station currently has become history, abandoned and decrepit. Meanwhile, there is hope for a turnaround for the facility, though not for power generation but for repairs of transmission transformers and other equipment.

The managements of Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) and Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) were in Lagos to inspect the facility to determine the state of the station and what can be done to redo it and give it the required facelift that befits a modern workshop.

Managements of the two power firms told reporters after the inspection that the request of TCN to take over the facility for use will certainly work out as the overall target is to improve power supply for Nigerians.  Mr. ToluwaseAbejirin of the Asset Department, NELMCO, said: “This is Ijora Power Station located at Ijora-Olopa, Lagos. After the privatisation of power sector, the structure was transferred to NELMCO. This is one of the structures we were given to manage to be able to recover the debts of the old National Electric Power Authority (NEPA). The proceeds from this place will be used to pay for the liability.

“TCN being the sister agency requires this place for use to maintain all their equipment and repair their transformers on the grid. As you can see, this place is dilapidated now. The place was built in the early 1960s and commissioned by the Queen Elizabeth 11, which made it a long time project and since this place is empty, we are to sell it and use the proceeds to offset the liability like I said earlier.

“So, the TCN has made a request to NELMCO that the facility be given to them. The structure will be useful for them to repair their transformers by their engineers without paying consultant.  NELMCO is obliged to grant them that request. We are two sister agencies of government that can work together for a purpose.”

On the amount NELMCO will sell the structure to TCN, Abejirin said: “I am only a representative of the Managing Director, Mr. Adebayo Fagbemi, so I cannot say if this place will be given freely to TCN or they will pay for the structure.

“Let me just tell you that the purpose of the inspection is to know the suitability of this place for the purpose of repair of transformers that TCN removes from the grid and after repairs they will return it back to the grid. This structure is suitable for them and we have obliged their request.

The Managing Director, TCN, DrUsmanGur Mohammed, said: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria is ready to take the old Ijora Power structure here in Ijora-Olopa, Lagos, restructured it to a workshop to repair damaged or burnt transformers.

“In the last two and half years, we have encouraged our engineers to install equipment and also to repair transformers. I can clearly tell you that from the work they have done, our engineers are better than some of the engineers that come from abroad to repair our transformers.

“I am confident that all the transformers that were repaired by our engineers are in good condition while most of the one repaired by contractors did not last for three months after paying massively for the repairs.

“Meanwhile, they are doing these without tools. The question is, should we continue to pay heavy amounts when we have engineers who can do the work better than them. This is why we are looking at the possibility of creating our own workshop here by converting the old power station structure to where our engineers will do the repair work.

“I have spoken to the Managing Director of NELMCO and we have agreed that we can look at this place if it is ideal, we can go ahead with the plan. We are all government agencies and we report to the same parent ministry. I don’t think there will be problem on how we will take over the place.”

After the inspection of the structure, the Mohammed confirmed to reporters that the structure was ideal place for the TCN’s workshop, adding that “we can rebuild, refigure and modernize it to our taste.

“If you look at the old metal, we can hang our crane here and do the necessary repair. This place is not far from port, so we can bring in new transformers here for test before we take it to areas of installation. We can test them here especially those we don’t believe their integrity,” he said.

On what it will cost TCN to restructure the place, Mohammed said the company would first hire a consultant to look at the structure and come up with the required design. “Until a design is fixed, we cannot determine the cost but definitely we will fix it and get value for money. The structure will be handled by the people that have the capacity to do it well and at cost-reflective manner, adding that the contractor might be local or foreign.