25 February 2014, Abuja – The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, says the new owners of Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, KEDC, will not assume full ownership till full payment is made.
The decision is contained in a statement signed by BPE’s Head of Public Communications, Mr Chigbo Anichebe, in Abuja on Monday.
It stated that Mr Benjamin Dikki, the Director-General of BPE, announced the decision at the inauguration of Transitional Committees, TCs, for the two power companies.
Dikki said that so far, the core investors in the companies had only made 25 per cent payment and as such they could only access information and acquaint themselves with the company for now.
“The establishment of the TCs is aimed at allowing the investors to interface with the management for smooth transition from a public oriented enterprise to a private sector driven one.
“It is also to engage them to understand the challenges and peculiarities of the company, however, they will not assume full ownership of the companies until full payment is made.
“They are only allowed access to information and to acquaint themselves with the workings of the company but not decision making, you should also not engage in any turf war with the management,” he said.
Dikki said the practice of inaugurating TCs before complete takeover of a privatised company was initiated by the bureau due to the complex nature of the transaction.
The director-general noted that the experience from the existing TCs had been rewarding and useful and expressed the hope that the two newly inaugurated committees would also be beneficial to the core investors.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that both companies were the last out of a number of Federal Government enterprises penciled down in the power sector to be privatised.
*NAN