President Jonathan (right) and Vice President Sambo presenting Share Certificate and Licence to the Chairman of Vigeo Holdings Limited, Victor Gbolade Osibodu…yesterday.
Amid protests, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) died yesterday. In its place rose 18 successor campanies, 15 of which got licences and shares certificates from the Federal Government.
President Goodluck Jonathan, joined by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who is also the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, presented the certificates.
The privatised generating companies are Geregu Power Plc, Ughelli Power Plc, Egbin Power Plc, Kainji Hydro Electric Plc and and Shiroro Hydro Electric Power Plc.
The 10 privatised distribution companies (Discos) are located in Abuja, Benin, Eko, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kano, Port-Harcourt, Yola and Enugu.
The three PHCN successor companies that are yet to be handed over are located in Afam, Kaduna and Sapele.
The government, however, deferred the physical takeover of the firms by the new owners to enable it complete the payment of workers’ entitlements — an issue that sparked massive protests yesterday.
Jonathan said: “To the Nigerian people who have demonstrated such great patience and confidence, putting up often with darkness, noisy power-generating sets, the related pollution and daily disruptions in their lives, I say better days are coming.
“We do not expect the sector to be revitalised overnight, but we can all look forward to a better time very soon as we have seen in the telecommunication and banking sectors.
“I am confident that the power sector will promise no less, knowing the caliber of those who are taking over.
“Today, we embark on a journey, a journey that will usher us to a destination of enduring gain and fulfillment,’’ he said.
Jonathan said the ceremony was a milestone in the nation’s journey from a public-owned and -operated electricity sector to an industry driven by private sector.
Sambo said the event marked another major landmark in the transformation agenda of Jonathan’s administration.
He praised international development partners such as USAID, DFID, the World Bank Group and AfDB for keeping faith with the process.
Sambo said: “ The new owners of the generation companies are expected to build up capacity from the present levels of performance to additional 5,000mw within a period of five years.
“This promise has been captured clearly in the performance agreement that the new owners have with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) which will be monitored by the regulator.”
Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, said Kaduna Distribution Company and Afam Generation Company had to undergo a second bid process since no bidder qualified in the first process.
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said he was delighted to report the level of participation of Nigerian financial institution which provided over 70% of funds needed for the acquisition of the assets.
He added that “I understand that the international development partners accredited to Nigeria have coined a special phraseology for our process-simultaneous sequentiality.”
According to the minister, the Nigerian Electricity Industry has been transformed into a regulated environment.
Speaking on PHCN workers, Nebo said “Accordingly, out of 47,614 PHCN workers who were identified, we have completed the biometrics capture and related validation of 45,156 workers. As at today, the severance benefits of majority of that number have been paid while others are being processed. The payment of severance and pension will continue throughout the month of October.
“Nebo added: “I can say that the physical handover has not been made because we need to complete that first. We are not going to physically handover until everyone of them is fully taken care of.
“Most of them have now received their severance package but we also need to pay pension package. So severance package will be given to everyone of them and their pension benefits will be credited into their PFA accounts. Once that is done we know that the severance is complete and then we can physically handover to all these private companies.
“These things take time. It is something of hundreds of billions of naira. It is not easy just to wake up and have all these monies paid by any bank, it will cause a run on the bank. So we have been doing all the due diligence required to take care of that.”
On the Nigerian Electricity Management Company (NELMCO, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama, announced that the Federal government is in the process of reviewing and scaling down the liabilities of PHCN by NELMCO.
He said the Ministry of Finance has raised $350million from the Eurobond for the revitalization of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
Ngama said that the securitisation process would be of benefit to the private investors from the World Bank security risk guarantee of$135million is in place in the 2013 budget.
Group Managing Director Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu noted that domestic gas supply has grown to 1.500 million cubic feet per day from an average of 900,000 cubic feet per day in 2010.
This, according to him, is a growth of about 72% in the period under consideration.
He promised that following the corporation’s plan, there will be sufficient gas supply in areas where there are industrial activities.
