Senate allays fear on possible plan to reverse power sector privatisation
There are no plans to review power sector privatisation, the senate has said,The Guardian ha said.
Speaking through its Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, it said “Privatisation is a step in the right direction for developing the power sector, but the challenges make it seem the opposite.
Abaribe made the disclosure at its meeting with representatives of Ikeja Electric Plc, led by the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Anthony Youdeowei.
“We are aware that there are growing pains in terms of the privatisation, but our conviction is that we didn’t make a mistake in privatising these companies.”
He explained that after listening to the Ikeja DISCO’s officials, they took note of the difficult situations under which they operate.
“Essentially, what Nigerians want from the privatisation is an improvement in provision of power; if they are not seeing that, they have every right to ask questions,” he said.
The Senate committee promised Nigerians that as custodians of the people, its responsibility is to find out the challenges and find a way to mitigate them for enhanced service delivery.
The committee promised to send its recommendations and observations to the Senate.
Youdeowei had told the committee that the firm has invested over N53billion on its network since the power sector was privatised five years ago. He said the management and board of IE were not oblivious of the fact that government still had 40 per cent share of the business, stressing that its commitment to investing more in the business remains unwavering.
