Stories by Adeola Yusuf/ Lagos
Prospective buyers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies will now negotiate terms to complete the transfer from state hands, before being required to pay the remaining money for the plants and distribution firms they emerged preferred bidders.
A Presidency source told **Daily Independent** at the weekend that the government has begun negotiation of these terms with the bidders for the transfer of the various assets.
President Goodluck Jonathan, some weeks ago, accepted deposits from the 14 firms that emerged preferred bidders for 15 state electricity assets, a milestone in a privatisation process meant to end decades of power blackouts.
A signing ceremony at the presidential villa came one month after the bidders for 10-generation companies and five distribution companies paid 25 per cent of the bid sum as deposits.
The nation’s dysfunctional state electricity provider has been broken up into 15 separate generation or distribution firms in different parts of the country, with the aim ensuring self sufficiency in electricity generation and distribution nationwide.
Despite being Africa’s top energy producer with the world’s seventh largest gas reserves, Nigeria produces and distributes only enough power for a few hours a day in the places that get it at all.
Economists say power outages cost Africa’s second biggest economy billions of dollars on imported diesel for generators and in lost output. They say current GDP growth of around 7 percent could be pushed into double figures if electricity supply could be sorted out.
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