Mr. Kunle Olubiyo, chairman of Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, urged the federal government to conduct a mid-term review of the country’s electricity privatization.
Olubiyo made the call in an interview with the Nigerian News Agency (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday in the context of the epileptic power supply the country is experiencing.
NAN reports that the electricity sector was privatized in 2013 with the distribution and generation sub-sectors divided and sold to private owners.
This was aimed at improving the distribution of electricity in the country. Only the transmission component, through the Transmission Company of Nigeria, remained publicly owned.
Since November 2013, when the successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) were handed over to their new owners, Nigerians have expected an improvement in the electricity supply.
Olubiyo said the only way forward on the post-privatization issue was to put in place an urgent exercise review.
He added that there was a need to redefine franchising, which was against the competitive economy or the competitive electricity market.
“It kills, it does not work, every night the problem of reliability and energy stability can not be guaranteed, energy stability is close to zero.
“If you move around Abuja and other cities in the country, it’s usually shrouded in darkness, it’s not a good picture.
“So we want the federal government to take action and do a mid-term review after privatization and redefine the contract and franchising,” he said.
Olubiyo said the government should review the contract and the framework and ensure that the regulator sits down and regulates the ecosystem and regulatory landscape.
He said the impact of the epileptic power supply was quite huge despite the government’s good intentions.
“You will recall that the government signed a network improvement agreement with Siemens in Germany.
“The federal government has obtained numerous lines of credit from multilateral lending institutions, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, among others, for the electricity sector.
“The federal government has also stepped in by providing funds for the national mass counting program.
“So there is no better time than now for the government to bring all the stakeholders together and know whether the limitation of the network is due to aging equipment or a deliberate rejection of the load,” he said. declared. (NAN)
