Achieving robust power transmission network

 

I watched with zeal and enthusiasm the recent Presidential Power Reform Transaction Signing Summit at the State House Abuja. At that summit, the preferred bidders for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor generating and distribution companies that have paid the initial 25% of the bid prices were handed over their 25% payment certificates. The balance of 75% is expected to be settled within six months. That event to me was indeed a major step forward in the

implementation of the power sector reform. The Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo in his speech at the event described the summit as a “further boost to the reform momentum and investment confidence.”

The minister is n right because the critics of the ongoing privatization efforts in the power sector do not agree that the process would reach the present stage of its journey. Their scepticisms were initially hinged on the believe that privatization of the power sector was not an answer to Nigeria’s quest for uninterrupted power supply and therefore concluded that the project would not work.

Today, we have gone beyond the unbundling of the PHCN to the sale of the successor companies. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the solution to the interrupted power supply in the country lies in the hands of private investors given the enormity of the financial investments that are required to revitalize and transform the sector for efficiency and result.

 

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