The Federal Government yesterday handed over the physical assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to the 14 successor companies.
Power Minister Chinedu Nebo told reporters in Abuja that the PHCN has now ceased to exist but the debt which government incurred and their assets have been transferred to the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO).
“Government has no business doing business. Because government was doing business, NELMCO now has between N600 billion to N1 trillion debt that needs to be settled. So, some of these assets you are thinking will be stripped will not be stripped. They have been submitted to NELMCO,” he said.
The minister said the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) would soon roll out rules for the interim operation of the firms before the activation of the Electricity Transition Market.
The minister noted that there would be post-handover monitoring by the Federal Ministry of Power, NERC and the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE).
He said: “For today’s event, we must hand over physically five generation companies and 10 distribution companies to the new owners. The handover automatically gives the new owners authority to take over and manage the companies in line with already established rules and guidelines by the Bureau of Public Enterprises and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
“Announcement and activation of the interim market rules by NERC, the regulator, will very shortly announce to us what the interim rules for the market should be. Next is the declaration of the Electricity Transition Market by the minister, which will be made on advice by NERC.”
He explained that the fears of the challenges in the transmission sub-sector of the industry have been overtaken with the Federal Government intervention in excess of $3 billion for strengthening the transmission network.
According to Nebo, Nigeria hopes to rake in 4 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the power sector when the potential is fully realised.
He announced that N360 billion had been disbursed to the staff of the PHCN while N30 billion was in the pipeline.
Vice President Namadi Sambo, in separate messages to the handing over ceremonies across the country, said sanction awaits any of the 14 Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN) successor companies that fails to deliver or violates the rules enshrined in the Power Sector Reforms 2005.
The companies are Amperion Power Co. Ltd (Geregu), Transcorp/Woodrock (Ughelli), Integrated Energy Company (Ibadan), NEDC/KEPCO (Ikeja), Vigeo Power Ltd. (Benin), Aura Energy Ltd. (Jos), Integrated Energy Company (Yola), Mainstream Energy Ltd. (Kainji), West Power & Gas (Eko Kann Consortium (Abuja), 4Power Consortium (Port Harcourt), and Sahelian Power SPV Ltd
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Bureau of Public Enterprises(BPE), he said, would not hesitate to sanction any core investor that violated the rules and regulations of the sale.
He said the two agencies had been mandated to monitor the operations of the 14 unbundled PHCN companies.
“Let me state clearly there that both the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and BPE will continually monitor the operations of the successor companies and would not hesitate to sanction any core investor that does not deliver on the performance agreement that was executed with the government.’’
He said the companies had been tasked to ensure consistent supply of electricity to improve socio economic development.
He acknowledged the challenges facing the power sector in Nigeria but spoke of government’s commitment to the creation of an enabling environment to incentivize private sector investors.
The Vice President charged the successor companies to transform into world class entities in terms of quality of service delivery, social corporate responsibility, customer’s satisfaction and profitability.
He said there would have been a monopoly if the power generation companies remained as a single entity.
At the handing over of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) to the new investors- KANN Utility Consortium (Nig) Limited, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alhaji Shehu Malami, told electricity customers within the territory to be patient with the new company because the private sector has no magic wand.
He said that following the years of lack of investment in the sector, the private sector should not be expected to change the firm to meet international standard overnight.
Source: TheNationOnline

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FG will never sieze to owe.

Have the phcn gone on strike yet? Since morning no light, location-gwantu, kaduna state. Please can anyone confirm?