The Nigerian Senate has called for a review of the privatisation of the power sector noting that it has failed to yield the desire results.
A report by the Senate committee on power presented by its chairman Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe stated that the power Generation Companies (Gencos), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and Distribution Companies (Discos) have failed to meet up to expectations, hence the frequent blackouts due to national grid collapses.
The committee highlighted that the privatisation of the power sector in 2013 has brought more darkness as the players in the sector have added no significant value to the sector, warning that it might propose legislative measures to repeal the policy.
The red chamber insisted that it would probe the activities of Gencos, the TCN and Discos, for failing to deliver reliable electricity, threatening to come up with legislative measures, including new laws. It directed the Abaribe panel to conduct a holistic investigation into the challenges of the sector.
The panel was asked to come up with recommendations that should cover possible reversal of privatisation and declaration of an emergency in the power sector and report at plenary in six weeks.
Senator president Godswill Akpabio in his remark said the operators have left Nigerians helpless: “Why do state governors and communities buy transformers, hand them over Discos and still pay for installation?
” The people who took over (power sector) are just making money from those transformers and they are not adding value at all.
“Why do we hand over Gencos and the TCN can’t move what they generate? Why are Discos not investing in transformers, or we have to pay the Discos for transformers bought by Nigerians? We can make the laws; we can reverse the laws and ask the federal government to take back those things from them.”
