By Ezechukwu Chidozie
Geometric Power, Nigeria’s leading integrated power company, has appointed a veteran power engineer, Engr. Ben Caven, a former Executive-Director of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), as the Managing-Director of the Geometric Power Aba Power Limited (GPAL), its power generation arm.
GPAL is scheduled to start operations later in the year in Aba, Abia State, and scheduled to supply power to the industrial city and neighbouring communities, within the distribution ring allocated to it.
Caven is the only person to have served in PHCN at different times as Executive-Director (Engineering); Executive-Director (Generation); and Executive-Director (Transmission).
He is reputed to have participated actively in the design and building of much of the national electric power infrastructure in the country.
“Anytime there was a major challenge which could not be resolved, Caven would quickly jump into his overall suit, drive to the site and clear the fault in no time even if it was on Christmas or New Year day”, recalled Engineer Cliff Eneh, a former PHCN Senior Manager who later joined the academic world, after working at the Texas Power and Light Company in Dallas, United States.
According to Engr Eneh, “Caven is incomparable throughout PHCN history, even in human relations terms.
“He is so talented as an engineer, yet he is so self-effacing and associates with colleagues closely, regardless of their status and backgrounds.
“We used to watch with admiration anytime Engr Caven, after retirement, visited the PHCN headquarters in Abuja or any PHCN facility; the staff members would rush to him to greet and hug him in extreme excitement”.
GPAL operates gas turbines manufactured by General Electric of the United States, the world’s largest electricity equipment manufacturing firm, while its 27-kiolmetre gas pipeline from the Shell flow station Owaza in Ukwa-West Local Government Area to the Osisioma Industrial Estate in Aba was built by Oilserv Ltd, the leading indigenous engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company in Nigeria’s petroleum industry.
Caven’s appointment has also earned praises from other stakeholders, including the initiator of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC), Engr. Chrs Okoye, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers as well as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering who is also the Chief Promoter of the South-East Nigeria Development Fund (SENDEF).
“Geometric Power could not have chosen a better person to head Geometric Power Aba Limited”, stated Okoye, a leading geotechnical engineer in a message to Prof. Bath Nnaji, former Minister of Power who is chairman of the Geometric Power group.
“He is a quintessential and dedicated power engineer well trained in the United Kingdom, as we found out when we did a project for NEPA, and so developed a robust and wonderful relationship with him.
“Cegelec of France, one of the biggest electricity firms in the world, and La Christo of Nigeria were working on a dual-fired power plant in Abuja around 2000.
“I also came to know him as a most trustworthy and ethical engineer of the 21st century when our construction firm did the tallest building in Enugu, the headquarters of the South-East zone of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA)”.
“In fact, Engr Caven is an outstanding business leader rather than a manager who knows how to manage human resources, materials and financial resources effectively.
“He sets his sights on the future, rather than the present.
“His choice as the Geometric Power Aba Ltd MD shows that Geometric Power group shows it is determined to conduct a 21st century electricity business,” he said.
