NDPHC Refutes Report of Funds Mismanagement, Reckless Spending

*Says it has recovered over $10 million in legacy debts

Emmanuel Addeh in AbujaThe Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) yesterday dismissed a report that its Chief Executive, Jennifer Adighije, was mismanaging the organisation’s funds, describing it as dubious and ill‑intended.

While denying all the allegations in a statement in Abuja signed by the Head, Corporate and External Communications, Emmanuel Ojor, the NDPHC stressed that it was an attempt to smear the person of Adighije and mislead well‑meaning Nigerians.Since her assumption of office, Adighije, the NDPHC said, has focused on bold and necessary reforms to optimise the performance of the company assets to ramp up revenue while curtailing excessive and unjustified expenditure within the company.

Besides, it stated that under Adighije, NDPHC has enhanced its liquidity by aggressively pursuing the recovery of the monumental debts owed to the company for energy already delivered.In addition, NDPHC, according to the statement, has optimised internal processes to drive operational efficiency as well as leveraging technology to enhance the productivity of the workforce to transform the company’s performance to the benefit of the Nigerian people.

On the alleged proposed N900 million budget for a “25‑Year Celebration”, the NDPHC said the allegation was mischievous and speculative, noting that even by the account contained in the article, the figure is referred to as a proposed budget, if it exists at.“It is therefore laughable and dishonest to present an unapproved budget proposal as evidence of financial misconduct. It is also curious to understand how a 25-Year Celebration can be planned for an organisation that was established in 2005,” it stressed.On the allegation of flying private jets, the NDPHC said that as the head of a strategic national power company with critical assets spread across all geopolitical zones of the country, the Managing Director is frequently required to meet urgent operational, regulatory and stakeholder obligations in several locations within very tight timelines.“On rare occasions, and only where strictly necessary, chartered or private flights have been utilised to enable her discharge these responsibilities when commercial airline schedules cannot practically accommodate the time‑sensitive nature of such official engagements.

“These instances, even though are few and far between, are strictly for official purposes, and remain fully within the approved operational budget of the office of the Managing Director, with the knowledge and approval of the Board,” it stated.Also, the NDPHC denied allegations of manipulating the promotion exam, saying that these claims are entirely false.“The current promotion exercises within NDPHC were conceived and implemented to promote merit, professionalism, equity, fairness and career progression, in line with Adighije’s clear commitment to continuing professional development leveraging technology to improve working conditions for all staff,” it stressed.

It listed some of the notable achievements in the last one year as: Recovery of 110 containers worth over $5 million containing critical turbine parts, HRSG parts and other materials that had been abandoned at Onne port for over nine years.In the same vein, NDPHC listed advanced discussions with NERC on recouping its investments in enhancing TCN’s transmission grid expansion plan, saying about 750MW has been added to the power generation mechanical availabilityNDPHC said over $10 million has been recovered from bilateral customers in legacy debts, establishing of a price benchmarking desk for streamlining procurement to promote compliance with public procurement act 2007 and introduction of Computer Based Test CBT to foster transparency and implemented to promote merit, professionalism, equity, fairness in staff career progression.Among others, the NDPHC said it has improved staff morale, completed major projects, carried several bilateral transactions and secured insurance claims from underwriters to defray about $15 million claims on fire incident at Alaoji plant.