Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The National Council on Privatisation, NCP, has approved the Bureau of Public Enterprise’s, BPE, request to execute Performance Agreements with Transcorp Power Consortium, the core investor in Afam Power Plc and Afam III Fast Power Limited, signaling a renewed push to optimise Nigeria’s power assets for national economic growth.
The approval, announced at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, aims to regularise outstanding operational targets and ensure the commercial viability of the Afam Power assets post-privatisation, five years after their acquisition by Transcorp in November 2020.
Speaking at the council meeting, Vice President and NCP Chairman, Kashim Shettima, called for a fundamental shift in Nigeria’s privatisation agenda, stressing that asset optimisation, rather than mere sale of state-owned enterprises, is key to realising the country’s trillion-dollar economy ambition.
“Our aspiration to build a trillion-dollar economy is a destination that demands discipline, vision, and absolute adherence to the compass produced by this Council. Without such a compass, our economic projections would amount to nothing more than an exercise in theory formation,” Shettima said.
Shettima outlined a vision for NCP to unlock Nigeria’s latent assets, including underutilised land, dormant real estate, and intellectual property, while exploring modern models such as long-term concessions, asset-backed securitisation, and core investor sales tied to strict performance metrics.
“The necessity of this Council has never been in doubt. We replace bureaucratic bottlenecks with commercial agility, relieve government of the costly burden of subsidising inefficient state-owned enterprises, and attract vital investment,” he said.
The Vice President also issued a stern warning on transaction integrity, emphasizing zero tolerance for ambiguities to avoid litigation and send a strong signal of stability to the international investment community.
Director General of BPE, Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, briefed the council on the Afam Power transaction, noting that while the core investor had fully taken control of the plant, an outstanding N53.9 billion in privatization proceeds remained to be regularised through the Performance Agreements.
“The execution of these PAs will now allow BPE to commence mandatory post-privatisation monitoring of Transcorp’s performance obligations, including operational capacity targets and efficiency benchmarks,” Gbeleyi said.
The council also reviewed its achievements in 2025, including the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, into the Nigerian Independent System Operator and the Transmission Service Provider.
Gbeleyi described this as a critical milestone in strengthening sector efficiency.
The Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun, commended BPE’s commitment to best practices in privatisation, while contributions from the Ministers of Power and Budget, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the CBN Governor reinforced the need for disciplined execution of asset optimisation strategies.
