Come Friday, November 1, 2013, the Vice President and Chairman, National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Mohammed Namadi Sambo, will formally hand over the physical assets of all 14 PHCN successor-companies to their new owners, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said in a statement yesterday.
Signed by the Head of Public Communications, Mr. Joe Anichebe, the statement said the event would take place simultaneously at the headquarters of the successor-companies across the country, where Sambo would be represented by ministers and other top government functionaries.
However, it said the Sapele Generation Company (SGC) would not be involved in the exercise since the NCP has directed its legal committee to undertake a comprehensive legal review of its status following the preferred bidder’s failure to complete payment.
The affected companies are: Abuja Distribution Company (KANN Consortium Utility), Benin Distribution Company (Vigeo Power Consortium), Eko Distribution Company (West Power & Gas), Enugu Distribution Company (Interstate Electrics Ltd) and Ibadan Distribution Company (Integrated Energy Distribution & Marketing Ltd).
Others are Ikeja Distribution Company (NEDC/KEPCO Consortium), Jos Distribution Company (Aura Energy Limited), Kano Distribution Company (Sahelian Power SPV Ltd), Port Harcourt Distribution Company (4Power Consortium) and Yola Distribution Company (Integrated Energy Distribution & Marketing Ltd).
The generation companies are: Shiroro (North-South Power Company), Kainji (Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd), Geregu (Amperion Power Distribution) and Ughelli (Transcorp Ughelli Power Plc).
Top government functionaries to represent the Vice President at the various handover venues are: the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo (Abuja), Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Ibadan), Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke (Enugu), Minister of Trade & Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga (Eko), Minister of Transport, Senator Idris A. Umar (Kainji/Jebba) and Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (Yola).
The others are the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mohammed Musa Sada (Kano), Minister of Information, Labaran Maku (Jos), Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu (Ughelli) and Minister of State (Works), Bashir Yuguda (Shiroro).
The rest are the BPE Director General, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki (Ikeja and Egbin), Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Godswill Igali (Port-Harcourt), Chairman, Presidential Taskforce on Power, Beks Dagogo-Jack (Benin) and Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu (Geregu).
Dikki noted: “This handover is a culmination of 14 years of painstaking effort by the NCP, BPE and other key stakeholders to reform and liberalize Nigeria’s electricity industry, which began in 1999.”
The Electric Power Sector Reform Implementation Committee (EPIC) was set up in year 2000 with the key mandate to proffer an appropriate legal and regulatory framework for the sector. This gave birth to the National Electric Power Policy, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in September 2001.
It was followed by the passage of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005. The passage of the Act gave the NCP/BPE the legal impetus to set up the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), also in 2005.
The NCP/BPE went further to vertically unbundle the integrated monopoly into three segments of Generation, Transmission and Distribution. As part of the reform initiative, the utility was transformed into Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in compliance with Section 1 of EPSR Act of 2005, as prelude to the full unbundling of the utility into different successor companies
So far, from the 14 successor-companies scheduled for take over, a total of $2,525,824,534 was realized as proceeds. Of this amount, $1,256,000,000.00 came from the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) while the Generation Companies (GENCOs) raked in $1, 269,824,534.
The Federal Government has equally set aside the entire proceed of N384 billion from the transaction to settle labour liabilities.
Meanwhile, in its determination to resolve all labour issues before the handover, the BPE has dispatched a team of consultants and its staff for the biometric data capture of 1, 478 employees of the Enugu DISCO, who could not be audited because of virus attack on the system where their names were stored.
Culled from The Guardian
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