Senate Calls For Review Of Power Sector Privatisation

The Nigerian Senate, on Tuesday, called for a review or possible reversal of the privatisation of the power sector.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said unless the federal government checked the activities of generating and distribution companies in the country, the power situation in the country may never improve.

Lawan stated this while commenting on a motion moved by Benue North-east Senator, Gabriel Suswam, on “Power sector recovery plan and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Senate President expressed disappointment at electricity distribution companies in the country, saying they had shown lack of capacity to supply power to Nigerians over the years.

“We gave them our common patrimony and they still come back as DisCos and GenCos to look for money from the public. The time has come to review and probably reverse this privatisation, if we leave them for the next 10 years there would be no power in Nigeria,” he said.

“We expected efficiency, effectiveness in power supplies but probably on both sides, maybe the purchase agreements were not adhered to on both sides. What is obvious is that the DisCos particularly have no capacity at the moment to supply us power. The GenCos have challenges too.

“If there are areas we must intervene as a government must be seriously justified. The way it is I think there is need to review this privatisation to see what has happened. Something is certainly not right,” said Lawan.

THE WHISTLER in February reported that the Nigerian Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) had dared the federal government to review or revoke their operating licenses due to poor electricity supply in the country.

Speaking in a phone interview with THE WHISTLER, the Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Sunday Oduntan, had said the distribution companies would not hesitate to take legal action against the federal government if it decides to revoke their operating licenses.

Oduntan told this newspaper that the DisCos would fight to protect the interest of investors who invested $1.4 billion in the power sector as part of the privatisation agreements.