On 30th September 2013, Nigerians witnessed President Goodluck Jonathan hand over share certificates and licenses to 15 new core owners of successor distribution and generation companies in the bid to actualize the unbundling of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
But, on 1st November 2013, PHCN officially ceased to exist and the new owners took possession and actually began the operation of the power sector as privately owned companies. Nigerians from all walks of life have expressed their opinions on the privatization process. Some are of the view that the privatization is going to be a blessing to Nigerians, while others think that Nigerians will be the worse for it. Their views are here presented by the Rendezvous:
Business man 1: I thank President Goodluck Jonathan for this bold step he has taken to take the Bull by the horn and privatize the power sector in this country. When he came into power, people used to say that he is a weak leader, but with this move he has proven to Nigerians that he has the strongest willpower compared to previous Nigerian leaders. I believe that the kind of revolution Nigerians witnessed in the telecommunications sector will also happen in the power sector. If we can take our minds back the days of NITEL, when land phones were the only means of communicating with people in other places, we will remember that it used to be very expensive, tedious and sometimes, almost impossible. Through the private sector, we saw a revolution in that sector. I believe this kind of revolution is going to happen in the power sector with this privatization move by Mr. President.
Businessman 2: I know how much I spend every day to run Generator to service my business. To fuel the Generator with diesel, run it from morning till night and it maintenance costs between N150, 000 and N180, 000 monthly for my supermarket. This is besides the money I spend to buy 2 sound-proof generating sets. This happens to so many businesses all over the country. If the private sector will be able to provide constant electricity in this country, I know Nigerians are going to experience a kind of economic boom that has never been experienced before. The money spent so far to provide power for small and medium scale businesses can be channeled into the business and you can imagine the turnover. The privatization of PHCN is the best thing that has happened to this country and I salute the courage of President Goodluck Jonathan in taking this giant step.
The Economist: The privatization of PHCN by the Federal Government is going to improve the economic situation in the country. In economics, you don’t invest money to lose it. The investors who invest their money in the power sector are going to do all in their power to make sure that they recoup the money so invested. They cannot get their money back unless they are able to generate and distribute power to get to the end users. It is when the end users who are the consumers see and use the power that they will pay their bills before the investors can get their money back with interest. But I want to advise them (the investors) to really do something about billing. There were a lot of discrepancies in the billing regime of the defunct PHCN where people were given bills on estimates and this caused a lot of corruption in the system. In the said billing system, people were forced to pay bills even when electricity was not supplied to them. The new companies should make sure they provide the prepaid meter to all their consumers and then make them pay in bits till they complete the payment for the meter. But once the payment for the meter is completed, such payment should be discontinued to avoid the people being exploited.
Politician: The privatization of PHCN is a scheme of the ruling cabal to sell public assets to themselves and their cohorts. PHCN was almost the only government-owned parastatal left to be sold to bandits parading themselves as government loyalists. During the Obasanjo administration, Obasanjo himself and Atiku Abubakar were competing on who will buy the biggest government asset until Atiku made the move to buy the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd. to himself. That was when it dawned on Obasanjo that the madness which has finally reached its peak must be stopped. Jonathan and his cronies have succeeded in selling the only left government asset to themselves in the name of privatization. They are all thieves. Take for instance, the private owners of the defunct PHCN have raised the rent of the pre-paid meter to N700 and they are targeting N1000 every month. If they are sincere in providing uninterrupted power to Nigerians, why don’t they sell the meters to people and tell them how much the meter cost? So that when they pay the stipulated sum, the amount can be stopped. Why make the people to pay indefinitely for the meter? The only thing they have done through the privatization “brouhaha” is to change the exploiters of the people from government officials to private individuals. It will not improve electricity in any way in the country. Let’s wait and see.
The clergyman: The thing that can bring sanity to the power sector in Nigeria is when the stakeholders are sincere about whatever they are doing. Whether the managers or operators of the Nigerian Power sector are public or private individuals, those involved should have the interest of the larger public at heart. They should not only be guided by personal interest and the interest of their godfathers. But I doubt if they will operate the power sector without opposition or people trying to jeopardize their efforts. It is believed that some Nigerian mega businessmen have generator assembling plants outside the country and Nigeria being the largest market of generating sets, they will do everything in their power to thwart the efforts of the private operators of the power sector as they used to do in order to be able to sell their products. Apart from those who have manufacturing plants, those contractors who supply diesel to companies and government agencies will not fold their arms and watch their businesses brought to an end. I pray and hope that the new people will be able to scale through all the hurdles and deliver power to Nigerians who feel it is long overdue.
Academia: The privatization of PHCN is a bold step by President Goodluck Jonathan. He has done what no other Nigerian leader before him could not do. He has shown that he means well for Nigeria. The onus now is on the new owners to justify government’s confidence in them and make sure they make power available for Nigerians. To achieve this, they have to enter all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to repair power installations and replace all the transformers and cables that need replacement. They should also make sure that they make the prepaid meter available at every home. This will help in the billing system and people will be happy to buy card and recharge their meters once there is constant power. It is only by doing these that they will be able to recover the huge amount they have invested in the power sector. Once Nigeria is able to have uninterrupted power, the chain effect can only be imagined on the economy of the nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment