Nigeria Content Online

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.