29 November 2011, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Rather than the first quarter 2012 timeline earlier specified by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) for the completion of the sale of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, says the exercise will now be concluded in the second quarter of the year.
The minister said in Abuja on Monday that the process of transferring government’s equity in 17 of the 18 PHCN successor companies to core investors, workers and state governments would be completed in the second quarter of 2012.
“We are targeting the completion of the sale by the second quarter of next year,” he said in a goodwill message at the opening of the electric power transaction and industry review conference organised by the BPE
Stating that the submission and evaluation of bids for the firms would take place in the first quarter, he disclosed that about 331 Expressions of Interest were received for all the 18 successor companies when the BPE called for them.
He said 212 firms had been prequalified by the National Council on Privatisation headed by Vice-President Namadi Sambo to bid for the successor companies.
According to the minister, companies that showed interest in the firms were from 38 countries which was indicative of the enormous interest that the international community had shown in the power reform process.
Nnaji said the present administration recognised the invaluable contributions of the PHCN workers to national development and that was why it had paid N57 billion to them as monetised benefits.
The benefits, he explained, were denied the workers by successive regimes for seven years.
