Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola
Strange indications are emerging from the corridor of the federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, suggesting that contrary to trending expectations of Nigerians and experts in the sector that the best bet for the power sector remains a review of the privatization spree, government is now looking at finding out areas of pitfalls.
Some senior officials of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing noted that the abysmal performance of the sector, particularly that of the power distribution companies since the industry was privatised, has prompted calls for a total review of the entire privatisation process.
However, they insisted that the problem is not from the privatization exercise but logistics surrounding the industry.
Business Hilights recalls that the power sector was privatised on November 1, 2013, when the Federal Government formally handed over the successor companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria to private investors.
An official who pleaded anonymity said “The whole essence of the PSRIP is about making not just the Discos viable, but other arms of the value chain as well. The PSRIP contains a lot of reviews and reforms, because it will be dealing with things like liquidity, transparency, energy sufficiency and governance.
“This reform is for both operators and stakeholders. So the PRSIP itself, in a way, can be likened to a reform or review process of the power sector. The minister has always supported the concept of privatisation and he has always said so. He said so even at the last meeting with operators in the sector.
“He is of the view that you can review and reform the aspects that are problematic instead of reviewing the whole process. So, essentially, the recovery programme for the sector contains elements of review and reform, because it addresses some of those issues that are problematic in the privatisation process.”
