It was such a bold step that many people had thought dt was impossible&dt was not going to work.So far, by the grace of God, it is working&it isquite conceivable that it will do Nigeria a lot of good compared with when government provided, transmitted and distributed power. The enormous amounts of capital needed to be injected into power generation, distribution and transmission is so huge that the government cannot do it alone. And when it is left in the hands of the government, and you add the factors of the system whereby not all the money that is voted to solve a problem goes into solving that problem, when you consider all this, you will know that the private sector is much better at providing these services. Government has no business doing business. Government’s business is to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. It is these businesses that will thrive that will create jobs for the people, multiply the number of wealthy people, increase the middle class and makeeverybody else happier. So, the government took the right decision to privatise the Power sector. Right now, it is going very well. Just a couple of days ago, the remaining generating company (GENCO) at Afam and distributing company (DISCO) in Kaduna have been privatised. All the 10 GENCOS and five DISCOS are now in the hands of private companies. They have already paid and will soon take over. They are waiting for the completion of the engagement with the Labour unions then they will complete their payments and assume power. Everything is on course and we believe it is the bestthing for Nigeria. So, what is the situation between government and workers’ unions with regard to termination benefits? As at yesterday, payments started hitting their accounts. Government wants this process to be seamless. We are doing everything possible to carry everybody along. It is not always easy to get 100 per cent agreement on everything. We are paying the GENCOs first. At the end of that, we will begin to pay the DISCOs. Part of the reason is the sheer number of people and the amount involved. Nobody can do that in one fell swoop. If you do that on any economy in Africa, it will createproblems. It is better to do it on a gradual basis. They are completing the final assignment of auditing the people who were biometrically captured, and all of them have confirmed that they were credited with the correct amount due them. When do we expect the process to end and the new owners of the privatised companies to take over? I believe that by September, many of them should be taking over. Can you describe the most trying moment you have experienced on the Labour issue? I must be very frank with you. The union leaders have been quite good, even though they are hard nuts to crack. They bargain as hard-nosed businessmen. They want every “i” dotted and every “t”crossed. At this point, they want to get as much as possible for the people they represent. I would not say I have experienced any bad situation with them except that they are asking for too much and itgoes beyond constitutional provisions. We don’t want to create precedents that will becomea burden on the system. The unions are doing very well though sometimes we see them write a few things in the newspapers accusing us of one thing or the other. It is worrisome because if you are the leader of a sector and people are complaining about one thing or the other, naturally, it will affect you. Sometimes we are at daggers-drawn; sometimes we are smiling and shaking hands. It has generallybeen okay. You participated in the Ministerial Platform. What will you tell Nigerians is the achievement of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in the Power sectorsince he took over? Rural electrification projects were moribund. Some previous governments even wanted to scrap them. It was President Jonathan that revived the Rural Electrification Agency in 2012 and provided funding so that rural dwellers that constitute the larger population of the country will get electricity. That is one significant achievement. Remember also that all these National Independent Power Projects (NIPP) that all of us are acclaiming, were virtually dead upon the arrival of President Jonathan. They were all stalled. Nothing was going on. Unfortunately, the Yar’ Adua government did not want to continue with it. Eventually, President Jonathan stepped it up. We are really surviving with regardto electricity supply because he revived the NIPP projects, a multi-billion dollar project altogether. This is the actual basis that we have of guaranteeing steady supply of power to Nigerians. Now, take the hydros aspect, it is the same President Jonathan who decided to go forward with it, and not dreaming and seeing visions. He proceeded to actualise them. Zungeru has been on the drawing board for 30 years. It was President Jonathan that said, let’s get on with it, found funding for it and flagged it off on 28th may 2013.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 05:47:41 +0000
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