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ALL NIGERIANS HOME AND ABROAD NEED TO SEE THIS| SEE WHAT PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU IS PLANNING TO DO IN 2025 THAT WILL AFFECT ALL NIGERIANS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.The billionaire businessman said Nigeria’s current electricity challenges would have been a solved problem during privatization by the previous government but for political interference. ...Tap To Read The Full Story Here | ..Tap To Read The Full Story Here...
In an interview with News Central on Monday, Cole commended the efforts of Atedo Peterside, who chaired the government’s electricity privatization committee.
Recalling the exercise process, the APC chieftain narrated that the generation and distribution sectors of the privatization process were handled transparently, but political interference marred the distribution sector.
His words: “I have participated in privatization exercises in Nigeria. I have seen the ones that have worked and the ones that have failed, hopefully. Privatization is the way to go. But the way you privatize is so important.
“I mentioned one which I was a part of and this I will talk about. He mentioned the power. We’re talking about the energy sector. And power, we can claim, is part of energy anyway. When Atedo Peterside handled the process for the privatization of the energy sector, power, Genco and distribution, transmission was part of that arrangement.
“It was one of the cleanest, best-run exercise I have ever witnessed in my life. He did it to the core. Aliko is a friend of Atedo, they’re friends. Aliko bidded for a Genco. I can’t remember which one, but this is record. He came late for that submission. Prior about 20 minutes late, Atedo refused to accept his bid.
“They’re good friends. He refused, said no. This process must go cleanly. So there was a very transparent transfer of that whole thing. We were part of it. We won it based purely on a very transparent set of rules.”
The former Rivers State governorship candidate disclosed that some politicians in the government used national security to stop the privatization of the transmission sector.
He continued, “Now this is where the problem starts. And this is what we have to be very careful about regulation. Somebody showed the idea that transmission should not be a part of the sale, that it must remain in government hands for national security.
“They removed the transmission out of the bid. Automatically, you start seeing a dysfunction of a system that is whole. So they removed transmission. Then we got to the distribution. After it was sold on certain rules, as soon as it was sold, they changed the rules on distribution. Inconsistent on the part of government. So inconsistency, they changed the rules on this whole completely. Today, nearly 10 years later, we are still struggling on the privatization exercise that started off well and ended badly.
“So today, people look at power sector and they’re wondering why is it not working because of this kind of thing.”
Cole further advised that if privatization must work in any sector of the economy, the government must be sincere and remove unnecessary political inference.
“So if we’re going to deal privatization in the oil sector, and you’re looking at NNPC refineries, distribution, water depots, pipelines, whatever it is, you have to be clear from day one. This is what you are doing.
“These are the rules. And when you have sold it, please, no more political interference. The major problem with the power sector was that there was so much political interference in that whole process that what started out well ended up badly.ALL NIGERIANS HOME AND ABROAD NEED TO SEE THIS| SEE WHAT PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU IS PLANNING TO DO IN 2025 THAT WILL AFFECT ALL NIGERIANS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.
And after everybody realized it was bad, they go back and they start blaming the people who bought it, saying that they’re the ones who had fault,” he added...Tap To Read The Full Story Here.
