19 November 2013, Abuja – The Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, has expressed optimism that new owners of privatised successor generation and distribution companies of defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, will meet up with the minimum investment inflow of about $9.3 billion into the sector within the next five years.
Dikki, who gave the assurance at the
induction ceremony of the 2013/2014 trainees in the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria’s (NAPTIN) Graduate Skills Development Programme (NGSDP) explained that the amount needed for the expansion of the capacity of the privatised generation and distribution companies would be sourced and utilised by the investors without so much hassles.
He stated that if Nigeria’s telecommunication sector could attract about $40 billion of investment for expansion within 10 years, there was no reason why the approximated $9.3 billion required in the power sector would not be possible.
Dikki explained that the generation companies were contractually obligated to increase generation capacity by 5,000 megawatts (MW) in five years, with a minimum capital investment requirement of $7.5 billion, while the distribution companies are obligated to reduce aggregate technical and commercial losses (ATC&C) in their operation through a required investment of about $1.8 billion in five years, all resulting in a minimum investment of $9.3 billion within the period.
“Private sector takeover of the power sector has opened up the electricity market for competition and efficiency and healthy competition as we know drives down cost of business and improve efficiency. Over time, this sector will need so much manpower to drive its operations, it has by this opened up the urgent need for manpower training in the sector,” Dikki stated.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Ltd (NDPHC), Mr. James Olotu, disclosed that the three tiers of government had agreed that part of proceeds from the sale of the 10 National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) thermal plants would be reinvested into six hydro power plants with joint capacity of 6,000MW.
He stated the need for urgent training of skilled manpower to take charge of operations of power assets that would come with the privatisation exercise.
– This Day