The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) have recently received a petition by Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), seeking to return the privatized power assets to government over undue interference in their operations.
This action was however, caused by the planned forensic audit of the operations of DISCOs and the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), that banks should commence collection of tariff, targeted at enabling them recover huge loans granted them, to buy the assets.
As reported by Vanguard Newspaper, an anonymous managing director of one of the Discos, said that privitization of assets without compliance will not work, as government has failed to keep to their own part of agreement.
“I am aware that the DISCOs have reported the situation to BPE. Many people and institutions have not been fair to the DISCOs. The privatization of the assets was based on an agreement to be kept by the DISCOs and the government, which still has 40 per cent interest in the companies.”
“In looking into our operations, the first thing should be to find out the content or details of that agreement. The next thing should be to look at the steps taken by all parties to comply”
“As far as we are concerned, the DISCOs have done a lot to comply with the terms of the agreement because without such compliance, the privatization would not work” saying “It is not fair for some authorities to start talking about forensic audit and using alternative options to collect the tariff, which is the major obligation of the DISCOs.”
“We have reviewed these and other issues severally among ourselves. We have also made our position known to relevant government agencies, including BPE and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC.”
Reacting to the new development, Deji Adeyanju, the Convener, Concerned Nigerians Group, cautioned the Federal Government on policies that might affect the economy badly.
Adeyanju said: “The approach of the government is not well thought out. If you look at it, people have invested billions in these DISCOs and government should not do anything that would make people pull out from the country because our economy is so badly hit. Whatever policies government policies show to these investors it will determine how market forces will react.”
By Chinenye Gertrude
GGB reports
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