‘OUTPUT NOT INPUT’, VRA Board Chairman to NEDCo

The Board Chairman of Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr. Kofi Tutu Agyare, has called on the Management of NEDCo to pay more attention to the end result of their efforts and hard work instead of the usual over concentration on their input as a catalyst to propel NEDCo from her current state of losses to a break-even point and eventually, turn the corner towards profitability. He said VRA was concerned that despite the numerous levels and forms of support from the parent company to NEDCo, losses were still high and receivables, refusing to come down, both indicators painting a negative image of NEDCo thereby, creating a situation which is capable of scaring away potential investors. “It would be recalled that before NEDCo was incorporated as a stand-alone company, its books were not looking attractive in the eyes of investors, a situation that has remained same several years after. Investors will not put their financial resources in any business venture when they are not sure of getting back their monies’ worth and NEDCo comes across as such an unattractive business interest in its current form and shape, and incapable of catching the attention of any serious investor”, he said. He further admonished NEDCo to surf the energy world for innovative ideas, technology, and emerging industry modules to inject some freshness and dynamism into its business; to this end, he exemplified initiatives like carbon prints, accessing funds from non-traditional but legitimate sources that may not necessarily be hinged upon NEDCo’s books and also, measures at harnessing staff synergies, to mention but a few. According to him, such interventions will
play a critical role in turning the fortunes of the company.

Mr. Agyare who was on a two-day working visit to NEDCo, made these comments during an interaction session with Management and the staff group leaders in Tamale. The VRA Board Chairman praised the caliber of NEDCo’s staff as being “smart, intelligent, capable and committed men and women” and advised that they consider the Liberian example where their power company which was in dire straits like NEDCo sometime back, managed to break loose from the chains of heavy losses and seemingly irredeemable receivables to their present state of break-even through technology and innovation, setting the tone to make profit and become viable; a fate NEDCo so badly needs, he added. He promised to discuss NEDCo’s power instability challenges in the Eastern Corridor with the Hon Minister of Energy, having heard the staff group leaders table it as a major concern after describing the situation as a “ticking time bomb” that had consistently defied all distribution and engineering maneuverings and interventions so far. He was however quick to add that the prevailing financial circumstances of the country may not allow for the execution of any big project; this reality notwithstanding, he promised to do his best. As part of his visit, Mr. Agyare inspected some on-going sub-station construction projects at Adubiliyili and Lamashegu as well as the data center construction site within the NEDCo staff bungalows enclave the Northern area; He also made a whistle stop at the operational headquarters of the Northern Area, the biggest operational area of NEDCo and interacted with the area management to acquaint himself with the operations, challenges and way forward of the Area’s business. He has since departed Tamale after sitting through some NEDCo Management (EXCOM) meetings on July 24, 2024.