Senate President, Ahmad Lawan said on Thursday that it has become imperative for the National Assembly to revisit the privatisation of the power sector.
The revisiting, Lawan said is informed largely due to seeming inability of power Distribution Companies(DISCOs) and Generation Companies (GENCOs) to adequately generate and supply power across the country.
He stated this while playing host to executive committee and members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ((MAN) in Abuja.
Mansur Ahmed, MAN President in his address earlier listed insecurity, epileptic power supply and delay in clearing goods as major challenges facing members of the Association.
However, Lawan noted that if the power sector privatisation is reviewed, apart from enhancing efficiency, it will ensure power stability in the country.
“I think the privatisation has not worked. It has failed because the essence of privatisation is to create efficiency,” Lawan told his guests who complained of the adverse effects of the sordid state of electricity supply in the country.
“It appears most of the companies, the DISCOs (Distribution Companies), have no sufficient capital and probably the same thing with the GENCOs (Generation Companies),” Lawan said.
Stating further, Lawan expressed concern that the power generation and distribution companies have failed despite much money the federal government has subvented them.
“I think the time has come for government to take a very drastic but necessary decision. If we have privatised the DISCOs and the GENCOs, I think, the private sector, those who have taken them over, should be able to make them work better than they were before.
“If they cannot, I think we need to revisit this privatisation because we cannot go on like that. We should look at the larger interest of Nigerians not of those companies that have taken over the power sector – the DISCOs and the GENCOs.
“We are going to support the executive arm of government… We will suggest that going forward we have to revisit the privatisation because apparently the companies are not able to provide the power that we thought they could by now,” Lawan said.
He further insisted that inadequate power supply dislocates economy and that “there is no way the nation can make any serious progress without adequate and steady power supply”.
