OpeOluwani Akintayo
13 August 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Privatisation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), has gulped over $3 billion.
According to data gathered from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Nigeria’s privatisation is one of the “most ambitious” privatisation processes in the world.
The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has the following industry participants: Federal Ministry of Power, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Electricity Generation Companies (GenCos), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Electricity Distribution Companies(DisCos), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Gas Aggregator Company of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Electricity Management Service Agency (NEMSA).
To help address generation concerns, in 2013 the government began a partial privatisation process that led to the sale of 15 state generation and distribution companies, previously included under the umbrella of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
However, the process has not been hitch free.
In September 2014, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched a NGN213bn ($1.1bn) bailout package to cover revenue shortfalls and help with debt servicing on NGN500bn ($2.5bn) of bank loans across the sector.
After the bailout from CBN, the Federal Government has also given several bailouts to the sector.
Nonetheless, certain power plants have seen improvements as a result of the scheme.
In particular, the Ughelli Power Plant – the nation’s largest fossil fuel generation plant – has increased power generation more than five-fold in the past two years, and is expected to deliver another 760 MW by the end of 2015, according to Adeoye Fadeyibi, CEO of Transcorp Power, which manages the plant.
The country’s largest power plant, the 30-year-old Egbin Power Plant in Lagos, has also boosted its output, from less than 50% of capacity to 85% since Nigeria’s Sahara Group and Korea Electricity Power took over management in 2013. The plant now generates an average of 1100 MW, according to the company.
The privatisation of existing assets has also been complemented by the arrival of new producers, with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission having recently issued 70 licences for independent power plants (IPPs).
Recently, the federal government announced that the 450-MW Azura-Edo IPP – an open-cycle gas turbine project that is part of a larger 1500-MW IPP facility planned for Edo State – had reached financial close and is expected to come on-stream in 2018.
There are presently 23 grid connected generating plants supplying power in the country.
