‘Privatisation: FG’s recovery plan to refocus power sector’

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has rejected any support to cancel the 2013 power sector privatisation saying the on-going Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP) will refocus the industry.

Fashola declared this in Jos, Plateau State recently at the third National Council on Power (NACOP) that began last Monday.

The minister said: “There have been comments about how effective privatization has been in the power sector and some people have called for its cancellation which I disagree with.”

Fashola said to cancel the privatisation, the federal government will have to refund the proceeds in dollars to the investors at the prevailing foreign exchange rate saying most of it was used to pay the severance packages of PHCN worker.

On the solution, he said: “That is why we developed the PSRP which are a set of policies, programmes and actions aimed at solving Generation, Transmission, Distribution, Liquidity, Metering, Estimated Billing, Energy Theft, Safety and other challenges,” Fashola explained.

He said it was yielding results as electricity generation on September 12 rose to 7,001 megawatts (mw), transmission at 6,700mw and distribution at 4,600mw capacity.

He also urged the state governors to invest in power plants as he built seven plants with 35mw as Lagos state governor.