What was once heralded as a transformative milestone under former Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has now been laid bare as a grand illusion. The Ossiomo Power Project, long showcased as a flagship achievement of his administration, is not owned by the Edo State Government as many had been led to believe but is instead a privately run venture with no government equity or control.
The stunning revelation came during a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Edo State Electrification Agency on Tuesday at the John Odigie-Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA) in Benin City. In a room filled with government officials, energy stakeholders, and concerned citizens, the truth was delivered with clarity and finality: the state is nothing more than a paying customer in the Ossiomo power arrangement.
Hon. Saturday Egbadon, Managing Director of the Edo State Electrification Agency, made the official clarification, stating that the Ossiomo facility was structured under the previous administration purely as a private venture. The state, he emphasized, holds no ownership stake and has no hand in the operations or decision-making of the plant.
“The government of Edo State is simply a customer of Ossiomo Power, as established by the last administration,” Egbadon explained. “The current shutdown is the result of a commercial dispute between Ossiomo Power and its Chinese partner, CCETC, not a decision made by the state government.”
Egbadon further revealed that the abrupt halt in operations at Ossiomo’s Ologbo facility, which occurred without consultation or notice to Governor Monday Okpebholo, had plunged several government ministries, hospitals, and businesses into darkness since September 1st. The plant’s unilateral decision to shut down triggered a scramble to restore power to critical infrastructure across the state.
In response to the unfolding crisis, the Edo State Government moved quickly to engage the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to assume responsibility for supplying electricity to all facilities and customers previously connected to Ossiomo’s 11KV lines. These include the State Secretariat, Government House, major hospitals, and private subscribers.
Egbadon commended BEDC for its swift intervention, saying, “We must appreciate the BEDC management for waiving the usual bureaucracy and ensuring that electricity was restored quickly to key public institutions.”
Representing BEDC at the meeting, Acting Chief Technical Officer Engr. Kingsley Atseyinku assured that the company was fully prepared to absorb Ossiomo’s stranded customers. He noted that many would be migrated to Band A feeders, which guarantee power supply for 20 to 24 hours daily, a significant relief for those who had been without power for days.
Among the affected customers present at the meeting was Barrister Adesuwa Omonuwa, a longtime subscriber of Ossiomo Power. She expressed cautious optimism following the government’s intervention, stating, “I have been with Ossiomo from inception and was satisfied before these problems emerged. Today’s meeting has given us hope, and if all promises are kept, customers will no longer endure days of blackout.”
The 95MW gas-powered Ossiomo plant was once lauded as a revolutionary response to Edo’s chronic power shortages. It served a range of clients from government agencies and industrial complexes to hotels and media institutions. But with the latest revelations, the narrative surrounding the project has dramatically shifted from that of a proudly state-led initiative to a privately orchestrated operation with limited state oversight.
As questions mount over the true nature of the project’s structure and the motives behind its public branding, the fallout from the Ossiomo scandal has ignited a broader conversation on the transparency, sustainability, and integrity of government-endorsed infrastructure projects. For many, the unraveling of Ossiomo represents more than a power outage it signals a trust deficit that must be addressed if Edo is to move forward with confidence in its leadership and its promises.
