The West African Power Pool (WAPP) has held its 51st Board Meeting in Cotonou, the Republic of Benin on 25th September, 2021. The meeting was hybrid in nature with physical and virtual attendance of the members in observance of COVID -19 protocols.

Addressing the meeting, the Chairman of the WAPP Executive Board / Ag. MD-CEO of TCN, Engr. Dr. Sule Abdulaziz said that the 51st WAPP Executive Board Meeting was convened essentially to review and adopt the certified 2020 Financial Statements as well as the 2022 Budget and Work Programme of WAPP. He intimated the Board that the financial statements had been duly audited and certified by External Auditors.

The Chairman commended the WAPP Secretariat for the diligent pursuit of project execution in the Pool and expressed confidence in the efforts of the WAPP team. He also noted that the institution was working hard towards achieving the collective goal of the Pool in line with the aspirations of its founding fathers.  

Commenting on the need for prompt payment of dues, the Chairman acknowledged the global effect of COVID-19 pandemic on businesses generally, and suggested that the yearly contributions by member-utilities should not be increased to avoid the further burdening of businesses. Against this background, he further directed that efforts should be intensified in recovering debts owed by defaulting utilities.

Engr. Dr. Abdulaziz expressed gratitude to the Government and the people of Benin Republic for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded the WAPP Board Members who were in the country for the meeting and for creating an enabling environment for WAPP operations.   

Speaking earlier, the Secretary General of WAPP, Apollinaire Siengui KI explained that the Financial Statement for year 2020 was made up of the consolidated statements of various projects carried out by WAPP through the financing made available by WAPP Technical and Financial partners. He also noted that the Programme of Activities for the year 2022, was rigorously drawn up in conjunction with the Financial Committee taking into cognisance the current global financial situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said TCN has improved its capacity for International Procurement and Project Management by training several members of staff to drive projects implementation. Upgrade has also been achieved in the areas of repairs of major equipment such as Power Transformers and system studies to guide decisions on System expansion and upgrade.

Engr. Abdulaziz highlighted a number of TCN completed projects within the last two years to include; the Construction of 2x60MVA, 132/33kV Substation at Gagarawa, Jigawa State, Construction of 2x30MVA, 132/33kV Substation at Yelwa Yauri, Construction of Ikorodu-Odogunyan-Shagamu 132kV double circuit transmission line and the Construction of 2x60MVA, 132/33kV Substation at Agu-Awka, Anambra State.

Speaking earlier, the Secretary General of WAPP, Apollinaire Siengui KI explained that the Financial Statement for year 2020 was made up of the consolidated statements of various projects carried out by WAPP through the financing made available by WAPP Technical and Financial partners. He also noted that the Programme of Activities for the year 2022, was rigorously drawn up in conjunction with the Financial Committee taking into cognisance the current global financial situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He introduced the new members of the WAPP Executive Board whom he said were the newly appointed Managing Directors of Ci-Energies of Cote d'Ivoire and GRIDCO of Ghana. He also informed the Board that he had taken out time to update the new members on the activities of WAPP and the stage of project execution.

Apollinaire KI noted that the performance of WAPP, in terms of project execution, had increased with more inflow from the financial partners. The meeting noted that some WAPP Utilities were no longer participating in meetings as well as paying their dues to the regional body. A team was constituted to contact them for further discussions with the view to reintegrating them into the Pool.