An electricity expert, Clifford Nkenna, has recommended that the Federal Government should review the privatisation of power distribution companies, with a view to attracting better investment that would boost electricity supply in the country.
Nkenna, the general manager of Artis Power Holdings of Nigeria, based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, says the present buyers of the Discos are not power experts, and have not been able to inject new investments into the sector since they took over ownership of the power companies.
“The Federal Government should allow experts to come into the power sector, because these people we are seeing as buyers of all the electricity companies, they are not experts in this area. So, that is why the whole thing is going down the drain. The power supply situation in the country is just crumbling,” says Nkenna in an interview with BusinessDay.
According to him, the country is still very far from getting to optimum power supply because, there have not been any new investments made by the new owner power companies.
“The Discos are just managing with what they got from the former PHCN; and things are crumbling. These are not experts in power area.
“The essence of privatisation world wide is to attract foreign investments; to make sure you pull the necessary expertise from other locations to get things moving. But we are not getting direct investments. We are not getting expertise, technical knowhow; and we must avoid political grudges. The power industry is going to be in a very bad shape in the future unless the Federal Government takes to privatisation seriously, and pulls massive investments in the power sector,” Nkenna states based on his experience.
He suggests that “the way forward is for government to attract massive investment, foreign direct investment, partnering with other international bodies so that they can invest in the power sector. Power sector is always capital intensive, and is not something you play with instant generation of one megawatt. We travelled to South Africa in 2009, with a population of 47 million people, and they are generating 40,000 megawatts. But, Nigeria is over 165 million people, and we are generating less than 5,000 megawatts.
“Nigerians asked for privatisation; they said government must privatise. They will continue to bear the present lapses until at a later time when the Federal Government will remember to do what it is supposed to do.”
VICTORIA NNAKAIKE
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
