There are indications that the Federal Government may wield the big stick on some power generating companies (GenCos) as well as distribution companies (DisCos) operating in the country very soon.

Government’s grouse is that DisCos and GenCos have been churning out epileptic power supplies in the country for which the current administration is taking bulk of the blames.

All this may have prompted a fresh approach by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari adopting a new resolution to review the operational and financial interventions where necessary.

Government is also interested in knowing where it can come in to improve transparency, service delivery, and performance as they affect the DisCos, transmission companies, among others.

Power Privitisation

Power privitisation policy in Nigeria dates back to the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo but it is still believed to be giving the current administration cause for concern hence its decision to look at the entire value chain with a view to rejigging it.

According to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, despite the sorry state of power sector, government was not considering going back to the old system where power was driven by the public sector rather mechanisms would be adopted to put the private sector drivers on their feet henceforth.

Fashola, who briefed State House reporters on some of council’s resolution, said the anti-corruption policy of the government may be visited on the private sector drivers, even as the botched contract for the Katsina wind energy farm project has been revived.

He said projects of this nature fell under the power sector recovery programme for which government has become more committed to.

“FEC approved the power sector recovery programme which we presented to council. It’s a programme that comprises many policy actions, operational and financial interventions that needs to be carried out by government to improve transparency, service delivery, performance of DisCos, transmissions companies, the entire value chain in order to create more viable power sector that is private sector driven.

“Some of the highlights of the programme would be to expose ways of simplifying and reducing the cash deficits that have accumulated ‎as a result of previous unilateral reductions of tariff by the last administration during the running of the elections, how to make the DisCos viable, accountable, responsive to customers, ensure stability of the grid and expansion of the grid and transparency and communication within the sector.

“We would look into the processes for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) debts‎ and how to improve sector governance, our roles in the buzz, the quality of personnel on the board of the DisCos, it addresses access to renewable energy especially in rural areas using mini-grids and stand alone solutions and how we are going to carry out the solutions that have been developed for 37 federal universities and seven tertiary hospitals.

“The resolution of the Niger Delta problem would also come under scrutiny including how to ensure there is stable and predictable foreign exchange policy for the sector so that it is somewhat protected from sudden head winds of the volatility of the foreign exchange market so that they can plan and deliver.

“Not forgetting issues of vandalism at consumer and production levels of pipelines and so on as this will help bring confidence to the market and stimulate the appetite that currently exists globally for Nigeria’s power sector.

“We see a lot of people who want to invest but some of them are tied to what other international financial institutions do‎ and the institutions are also waiting to see us commit to these things”, he said.

Katsina Wind Farm Project

On the Katsina wind farm project, Fashola said it was awarded in 2010 and should have been completed in 2013 but that the expatriate who was implementing it were kidnapped.

When he was eventually rescued he never returned back to the project site and that delayed the project.

“We have revived the project; a new contracting team is back on site. The contract of the consultants representing us has expired and so we are extending his contract to cover new period of completion,” he said.

N150m Design Link Roads

Meanwhile, the Federal Government voted a contract sum of N150 million just to design link roads leading to the proposed second Niger Bridge in the South East.

A timeframe of six months was also given for the design work to be completed, while the roads are to be linked through from Asaba in Delta State and Onitsha in Anambra State.

Again, minister of power, works and housing, who gave insights to the project, said with the link roads design now approved, it signaled the construction works for the second Niger Bridge project valued at N14.4 billion.

Besides the bridge contracts, approval was also given for construction of 12 federal roads at a cost of N80 billion.

Some of the roads are to cut across states particularly Numan, Jalingo roads connecting Adamawa‎ and Taraba states, replacement of bridges at Mayachi along Guza-Sokoto road in Zamfara State, construction of roads in Bauchi, Plateau, Osun, Kwara, Kano, Oyo, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano.

He said, “Approval was given for the engineering and consultancy design for access road 1 and 2 ‎to link Asaba in Delta State and Onitsha in Anambra State to link the Second Niger Bridge project.”

FEC also deliberated on a number of projects to be constructed within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The project includes contract for Phase Two of the Abuja Mass Transit Lot 1B (26.77km) from Ring Road I, linking through Area 10 beside Wuse Market, Berger

Junction, Jabi Motor Park, through Life Camp to Gwagwa.

Others are Jahi District Infrastructure at a cost of N19.473 billion and a 5km road to link Ring Road III to Wasa Junction with Karshi -Ara-Apo Road at a cost of N2.454 billion.

According to Mohammed Bello, council approved the resolution to approach the Nigerian Export Import (NEXIM) Bank to fund part of the projects at a cost of $1.79 billion.

VIA

INNOCENT OWEH ABUJA

Independentng