Senate President, Ahmad Lawan
Fresh reasons have emerged from the Nigerian Senate on why the 2013 privatization exercise of the nation’s power sector may be reversed sooner than later.
Addressing newsmen recently, the Senate Committee on Power has disclosed that only two out of the six privatised power generating companies (Gencos) have met the performance targets set by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
According to former Benue State Governor and Chairman of Senate Committee on Power, Senator Gabriel Suswan, at the just concluded three-day investigative hearing on the power sector recovery plan, “The two performing Gencos include Transcorp Power and Geregu Power. Suswan, who said the disclosure was contained in a BPE presentation explained: “Out of six Gencos, privatised, only two of them are performing. We have listened to presentations from the government side and the operators and we have seen that there is no alignment anywhere and that is the problem.”
According to him, “Once there is an alignment an proper coordination and proper tariff, it makes the sector liquid. So, once there is money in the sector, potential investors would come in and the banks would also be able to put in more money.”
The BPE presentation was made by the Director General of the agency, Alex Okoh with a background showing key statistics of the Nigerian Power Sector before 1999, revealing that only 17 out of the 79 generation units were operational and average daily generation nationwide was 1,750MW as at then.
