Electricity firms get N5.2b special fund
• Private investors decry scarcity of gas
AN end to the controversy over the payment of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers who are to be disengaged to enable new owners take over the country’s electricity plants is apparently now in sight.
And worried by the failure of the PHCN and its predecessors to effectively collect revenue, independent electricity producers in the country have charged government to hasten action on the issuance of prepaid meters to consumers.
The Chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nigeria, Prof. Jerry Gana, told The Guardian at the Federal Ministry of Power-Siemens Power Development Forum in Abuja that gas and meter issues should be resolved quickly to make the sector more attractive to private investors.
The Federal Government’s directive on the immediate release of severance pay to the workers came after many postponements.
In what looks like a last-minute effort to put the nation’s electricity utilities in reasonable shape before final take-over by new owners, government has released N5.2 billion, a kind of special intervention fund, to distribution and generation companies for operation and maintenance .
Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo, who disclosed this Tuesday at the forum, stressed that he had approved the payment to start immediately and was hopeful that the workers would get their severance pay before the end of the week.
Highlighting some challenges that previously plagued the electricity sector, he said: “Labour negotiations were stalled because of complaints about non-coverage of temporary members of staff in the settlement scheme. There were existing schisms between TCN and Manitoba because of unclear delineation of roles. Consequently, Manitoba’s members of staff were not allowed access to their offices. The transmission network, which hitherto had received very little investment, was becoming increasingly unstable and more sensitive to new generation. There was uncertainty and loss of confidence among some of our key investors and critical development partners about the commitment of the government to the reform process and the transformation of the power sector in general.”
Faced with the task of getting the sector back on the transformation track, he stressed that government had managed to “steer the ship in the right direction and has recorded some significant achievements ever since.”
• Private investors decry scarcity of gas
AN end to the controversy over the payment of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers who are to be disengaged to enable new owners take over the country’s electricity plants is apparently now in sight.
And worried by the failure of the PHCN and its predecessors to effectively collect revenue, independent electricity producers in the country have charged government to hasten action on the issuance of prepaid meters to consumers.
The Chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nigeria, Prof. Jerry Gana, told The Guardian at the Federal Ministry of Power-Siemens Power Development Forum in Abuja that gas and meter issues should be resolved quickly to make the sector more attractive to private investors.
The Federal Government’s directive on the immediate release of severance pay to the workers came after many postponements.
In what looks like a last-minute effort to put the nation’s electricity utilities in reasonable shape before final take-over by new owners, government has released N5.2 billion, a kind of special intervention fund, to distribution and generation companies for operation and maintenance .
Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo, who disclosed this Tuesday at the forum, stressed that he had approved the payment to start immediately and was hopeful that the workers would get their severance pay before the end of the week.
Highlighting some challenges that previously plagued the electricity sector, he said: “Labour negotiations were stalled because of complaints about non-coverage of temporary members of staff in the settlement scheme. There were existing schisms between TCN and Manitoba because of unclear delineation of roles. Consequently, Manitoba’s members of staff were not allowed access to their offices. The transmission network, which hitherto had received very little investment, was becoming increasingly unstable and more sensitive to new generation. There was uncertainty and loss of confidence among some of our key investors and critical development partners about the commitment of the government to the reform process and the transformation of the power sector in general.”
Faced with the task of getting the sector back on the transformation track, he stressed that government had managed to “steer the ship in the right direction and has recorded some significant achievements ever since.”
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