The federal government must prioritise Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the sale.of about five Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) being run by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and banks.
The federal government had earlier announced plan to offer the affected DisCos for the sale after they continue to struggle for survival.
On his part, the immediate past president of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Dr Martin Uzoegwu, commended the decision by President Bola Tinubu’s administration on the proposed sale, saying, adding that, “Right now, some of these discos are overwhelmed by their large franchise areas and this has created a lot of vacuum in their delivery of services.”
While criticising the previous privatisation exercise that brought the current DisCos into existence, he noted that the processes were married with controversy as the owners were politicians who knew little about electricity management.
“NUEE leadership saw it coming 10 years ago when they privatised the power sector at gun point. NUEE resisted it since the country is not yet ripe for privatisation and the process was marred with corruption and deception without due process.
“They sold it to politicians and businessmen that don’t have the requirements to manage such sector. They don’t have the technical ability, no managerial competency, no foreign direct investment (FDI) coming into the sector,” he stressed.
Stating the implications of the new federal government’s Uzoegwu said, “It will help to strengthen the entire sector, bring in foreign direct investment for infrastructure development and funding the entire value chain.
“It will bring in technical experts who have the ability and have been tested overtime in their respective field of engineering, allows those who have the right managerial skills and competency to manage the industry professional.”
In a chat with NATIONAL ECONOMY, another stakeholder who wants to be identified as Mr Dayo said, “This will be the best thing that will ever happen to Nigeria’s power sector.”
Moreover, he added, “Look at Ibadan Electric. It’s franchise cover Niger State, from Ibadan. That’s too large for a disco to manage.”
Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, said the decision to sell them off to new owners is a very good one.
Yusuf noted that the whole idea is to ensure that the affected electricity firms are revitalised, saying, “In order to do that, we need to put them in the hands of those who are technically and financially capable to revitalise them.
“In that process, we get better efficiency, we get better value, and we get better electricity supply from them.”
He added that, “from the on-set, I think the privatisation process itself was faulty. We are dealing with a faulty foundation, which is part of the problems we are grappling with today.
“The banks are not cut out to be managing a power sector institutions. That is not their business. I think the decision that the government has taken is a good decision.”
He stated that the firms were put in the Banks hand as a result of not able to pay off the loans they took from the banks.
