The North Central caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party has expressed opposition to the indefinite postponement of its 99th National Executive Committee meeting, which was initially set for November 28.

In a statement on Thursday, the Peoples Democratic Party, through its National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, explained that the 99th National Executive Committee meeting was postponed due to the funeral of Patience Umo Eno, the late First Lady of Akwa Ibom State and wife of Governor Umo Eno.

It was previously reported by The PUNCH on Tuesday that the PDP acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, with the support of former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, had made arrangements to stay in his position.

Since taking over as acting National Chairman after Senator Iyorchia Ayu’s removal by the court, Damagum has faced mounting criticism from party leaders amid the ongoing crisis within the PDP, with more voices calling for his resignation.

At the 98th NEC meeting on April 18, party leaders approved the formation of a reconciliation and disciplinary committee, the conduct of ward and state congresses, and instructed the North Central Caucus to consult on the ongoing issue of replacing the acting National Chairman with a permanent National Chairman.

The 98th NEC also set August 15 for the 99th NEC meeting, which was first postponed to October 24, 2024, and then rescheduled to November 28, 2024, now indefinitely postponed.

Announcing further postponement of the NEC meeting on Thursday, Anyanwu said, “Distinguished members of the National Executive Committee may recall that the NEC meeting scheduled for Thursday, October 24, 2024, was rescheduled to hold on Thursday, November 28, 2024, after an extensive meeting of leaders, critical stakeholder and relevant organs of the party held on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

“However, at its meeting of Wednesday, November 20, 2024, the attention of the National Working Committee was drawn to the programme of events of the funeral ceremony of the late First Lady of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Mrs. Patience Umo Eno, wife of the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, which events coincide with the scheduled dates of activities for the 99th NEC meeting.

“After due consideration, the NWC, recognising the need for party leaders to commiserate with Governor Umo Eno and also participate in the funeral, hereby wishes to notify distinguished members of NEC of our party that the 99th NEC meeting, earlier scheduled for Thursday, November 28, 2024, will now be held on a date that will be communicated to members in due course.

“All NEC members should please note the change of date and be guided accordingly. The NWC sincerely regrets the inconveniences this change of date will cause distinguished members of NEC.”

But a high-ranking member of the NWC, who wished to remain anonymous due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, described the postponement as a deliberate strategy to buy time.

He said, “While the postponement is genuine due to the funeral, it is also seen as a calculated tactic to buy more time. If that were not the case, most attendees of both events typically travel by air, so there’s no real need to shift the NEC meeting.

“Those supporting Damagum have effectively taken control of the party and have put plans in place to ensure he completes the term of Senator Iyorchia Ayu. That is why they made this public quickly, as the governors scheduled to meet in Jos on Saturday won’t be able to act otherwise.”

Meanwhile, a NEC member from the North Central region and former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, emphasised that the key to resolving the issues within the PDP lay in adhering to the established succession plan outlined in Section 47 (6) of the PDP Constitution (2017 Amendment).

Speaking to North Central youths in Abuja on Thursday, Ologbondiyan argued that respecting the party’s constitution was the only way to address the challenges facing the PDP and ultimately work towards fixing Nigeria.

“Anything outside of this demand will end up an exercise in futility,” he stressed.

Ologbondiyan stated “leaders must look at the bigger picture and address the truth wherever it is required. We must tell those who have undertaken to either kill the PDP or render it comatose that the party is not a one-man organisation. The founders named it the Peoples Democratic Party. It is, therefore, owned by the people of Nigeria and not any individual, no matter how well placed in the society.”

He said Damagum and his supporters should recognise that their actions were harming Nigerians.

“The National Executive Committee of the party took a decision at its 98th meeting to consider the demand of the North Central at the 99th meeting scheduled in August this year but the proposed NEC has suffered untold postponements to the detriment of the party and Nigerians.

“These postponements of NEC by the National Working Committee is an aberration that shows a huge disrespect for the constitutional order of the party.”

Ologbondiyan stressed the importance of the North Central region continuing to press for its rightful claim to the position of National Chairman of the PDP, warning that failing to do so would mean forgoing their rights within the party.

“It is trite wisdom that as long as Damagum is being encouraged to continue to sit on the position of North Central, the concept of fixing the PDP will be mere lip servicing that can cause the party more harm,” he said.

The Federal Government and the state governors will next week take decisions on the creation of state.

The Governor of Bayelsa State, Duoye Diri, disclosed this to State House Correspondents in Abuja on Thursday after the National Economic Council.

Diri revealed that the NEC gave Adamawa, Kebbi and Kwara states and the FCT one week (November 28) to submit their positions on the proposed creation of state police.

He said by the time the NEC convened again next week a decision would be taken.

“On the issue of state police today, when the decision was taken, even before it was, the three states in question, one of them (Adamawa) was represented by the Deputy Governor, had earlier made submissions that they presented their report.

“So, that was why NEC could not come out immediately to say ‘A or B,’ but rather gave a timeline. And that timeline, as you can see, was very short: one week for them to go and do whatever they are doing so that decisions will be made by the next NEC meeting. And, from how they reacted, I’m sure that maybe we have some bureaucracy regarding the submission,” Diri said.

On the one-week deadline given to the three defaulting states, he said, “The Council mandated these remaining states and the FCT to make their submissions within the next one week.

“On the state police, Council was updated with the submission of the establishment of state police, and it was reported that 33 states have submitted their positions, while three states are yet to do so.

“These three states are Adamawa, Kebbi and incidentally Kwara, which is the chairman of our forum, and the FCT are yet to submit their positions.

“The Council mandated these remaining states and the FCT to make their submissions within the next one week and resolved to present a consolidated state’s position on the state police to the National Economic Council at our next meeting.”

On February 15, 2024, the Federal Government, alongside the 36 states, began talks expected to culminate in the creation of state police.

This formed part of agreements reached at an emergency meeting between President Bola Tinubu and state governors at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

It followed the pockets of insecurity recorded nationwide, hikes in food prices and economic hardship.

Addressing State House Correspondents afterwards, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, explained that the process was still in its infancy and would only take shape after more deliberations between stakeholders.

“The Federal Government and the state governments are mulling the possibility of setting up state police,” said Idris, adding that “this is still going to be further discussed.”

He explained, “A lot of work must be done in that direction. But if our government and the state governments agree to the necessity of having state police, this is a significant shift.”

Two days earlier, the House of Representatives said it was considering a legislative bill titled, ‘A bill for an Act to alter the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for the establishment of State Police and related matters.’

Following this agreement, the National Economic Council requested each state to submit detailed reports outlining their positions and plans for implementing state police. By March 2024, 16 states had submitted their reports, with the remaining 20 expected to do so by May.

In April 2024, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum announced that the decisions of the remaining 20 governors were ready for submission to the NEC, indicating a unified commitment among the states to establish state police forces.

Despite these, as of November 2024, the implementation of state police remains only in the planning stages as the FG and state authorities continue to debate on the constitutional amendments required to empower states to establish and manage their police forces.

The debate for creating state police in Nigeria primarily stems from the centralised nature of the Nigerian Police Force, which many security pundits perceive as inadequate for addressing the unique security challenges across the country’s diverse regions.

Proponents argue that the outfit would bring law enforcement closer to the communities they serve, enhance the effectiveness of policing, and allow for more localised control over security matters.

However, opponents fear that state police could lead to the abuse of power, particularly in states with strong political control, potentially exacerbating regional tensions and undermining national unity.

Kanji and Jebba power plants recorded about N30.5bn as losses caused by grid failures between 2022 and 2024.

The amount incurred as external losses was occasioned by the incessant collapse of the national grid.

Recall that the national grid experienced its latest disturbance last Thursday, making it the 11th collapse in 2024, affecting both business activities and livelihoods.

Consumers, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, and other stakeholders have lamented the effect of the collapse on economic activity.

The Federal Government has blamed the serial collapses of the national grid on the destruction of electricity infrastructure like transmission towers and transformers as well as obsolete equipment in the transmission substations.

It added that many factors, including aged and ageing facilities, lack of maintenance and requisite investment, as well as alleged sabotage by unarmed forces, had contributed significantly to the embarrassing situation.

Similarly, power generation companies in Nigeria have decried the adverse impact of incessant grid collapse on their activities, which, according to them, has resulted in huge commercial and technical losses over the years.

A document obtained by our correspondent on Thursday revealed that two of the highest-generating plants in the country had accumulated a loss of N30.55bn, with the highest loss recorded in the current year.

An analysis of the document showed that the losses were caused by system collapse, system instability or high frequency, ramp-down and unplanned outages.

It disclosed that the power plants lost 149,524 megawatts per hour amounting to N2.38bn in 2022. The figure increased by 164.7 per cent to N6.3bn in 2023 following a loss of 229,370 megawatts per hour.

In the first 11 months of 2024, the amount has increased by a staggering 247.14 per cent or N15.57bn to N21.87bn due to energy loss of 356,759 megawatts per hour.

The document further stated that the impact of the grid collapse on the hydropower infrastructure includes the destruction of critical equipment, misalignment of shafts, contamination of lubrication oil, as well as potential damage to turbines, loss of power generation capacity, disruption of maintenance schedules, increased operational costs due to the need for repairs and replacements.

It added that the major causes of the collapse include grid instability and overload, transmission line overload, inadequate system protection, failure of critical equipment, ageing infrastructure, poor maintenance practices, lack of timely upgrades to the grid, and insufficient capacity planning. Additionally, factors such as unforeseen environmental conditions, human error, and inadequate response protocols during peak demand periods may have further contributed to the failure.

“When the electricity demand exceeds the capacity of the transmission lines, they can become overloaded. This may lead to overheating, equipment failure, or cascading outages,” the document noted.

Reacting to the issue, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies Joy Ogaji, said that the grid collapse poses a significant threat to Nigeria’s power sector, resulting in frequent disruptions, equipment damage, and substantial revenue losses for GenCos.

Ogaji, who spoke at a media training on Thursday in Abuja, stressed that the multiple grid collapse has seriously impacted Gencos.

She said, “While we certainly need a huge jump in our electricity supply projection, it is imperative to preserve lives and equipment to sustain our rapid economic growth and meet the growing demand, we therefore need to make every effort to efficiently manage all stages of value chain with intentional focus on maximizing efficiency in the entire electricity chain.

“Grid collapse poses a significant threat to Nigeria’s power sector, resulting in frequent disruptions, equipment damage, and substantial revenue losses for GenCos. Technically, grid collapse can cause catastrophic damage to generators, transformers, and other critical infrastructure, leading to prolonged downtime and costly repairs.

“Commercially, the impact is equally severe, as GenCos face reduced power sales, penalties for non-delivery (in bilateral and cross border trades), and increased operational expenses. The dwindling resources exacerbate these challenges, making it difficult for GenCos to maintain, repair, and replace damaged equipment, ultimately compromising the reliability and efficiency of the power supply.

“Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts from government, regulatory bodies, and the power sector to improve infrastructure, enforce maintenance protocols, and ensure financial viability for GenCos.”

An industry expert, Stephen Ogaji said, “The current operational parameters of the grid are not healthy for thermal power plants, especially when one tries to be fully grid code compliant, that is:

“All generators on the grid should be on primary frequency response. If all the market participants in the Nigeria grid strictly play by the Grid Code, the current system parameters will have a lesser impact on any one individual.”