Power sector assets not for strippers, says minister

 Government does not want PHCN’s critical assets to go into the wrong hands Photo: Femi Adebesin-Kuti

The Federal Government yesterday said the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the privatisation of the power sector was not yet finalised because it does not want the company’s critical assets to go into the wrong hands.

Nuhu Wya, the minister of state for power, said at the 2010 ministerial briefing in Abuja that despite the criticisms by the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the power sector privatization programme would proceed as planned.

 

Mr. Way said that though the wounding down of the PHCN has continued to elicit protests from the company workers and affiliates of the organised labour, government is determined to go ahead with the plan and complete the process by next year’s second quarter.

“Government is determined to see the eventual privatization of the electricity sector as planned. But the public must be assured of the federal government’s commitment, to ensure that the sector’s resources do not fall into the hands of asset strippers,” Mr. Wya said.

“The power sector reform programme, which started in 2005, is well on the way to completion. The Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is expected to be wound down by the second quarter of 2011, but government would insist that the exercise is not in favour of those in government that looted the $16 billion spent on the sector during the Obasanjo regime. Selling the company to these people would only impoverish Nigerians,” he declared.

Increased electricity supply

According to the minister, despite challenges militating against the completion of the privatisation process, the present administration has recorded significant improvements in the level of electricity supply to consumers since the beginning of the year.

Government, he said, was searching for people who are not only financially vibrant, but possess the ability to add value to what they are buying, adding that with several other infrastructural challenges that the government was facing, the search for foreign investors was unavoidable.

“The consequence of not taking these decisions would be very colossal. As long as the PHCN remains in the hands of the government, the country will continue to be penny wise, pound foolish. If we will not fulfill our responsibilities, we will continue to live in darkness. So, this government is saying: enough is enough; let’s go the full length of the reforms,” he said.

Hussein Labo, PHCN chief executive officer, said the power sector reform was inevitable, pointing out that individuals or groups that are against the ongoing privatization process were either unproductive staff or ‘freeloaders’, who are not really interested in the progress of the sector.

“There are two groups of people who are against reforms in the power sector. The first group is the unproductive members of staff who think when that utility is reformed they will be out of work; while the second group is people who enjoy certain benefits when the utility is under private hands, and they believe they would not continue to enjoy such benefits if the reform succeeds,” Mr. Labo declared.

Source:234next.com