The House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Bureau of Public Enterprises to halt planned sale of five power plants belonging to the Niger Delta Power Holding Company.
The power plants are located in Calabar (Cross River State), Ihorbor [Edo State], Olorunsogbo, Omotosho and Geregu.
The decision of the House to halt the sales was sequel to a motion of urgent public importance moved by the Chairman of the House Committee on Power, Magaji Da’u Aliyu (APC, Jigawa) .
Moving the motion, Rep. Aliyu said the power plants were constructed under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).
According to him, the National Council on Privatisation and Board of Directors of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Enterprises have advertised a request for expression of interest to purchase the power plants.
He said:”The assets belong to the three tiers of government, federal government 47% while states and local governments own 53% of the assets.
He added that the federal government is adamant on selling the assets to fund the deficit in the budget despite not getting the consent of other shareholders.
“Federal Government insists on proceeding with the sale of these assets despite the fact that the consent of other shareholders; States and Local governments have not been granted,” he said.
He further explained that the federal government made a similar attempt in 2013, however, the process failed to go through due to obstacles.
According to Aliyu, the timing of the privatization is not right in view of the economic situation around the world.
He said:“The current timing of the privatization even if it is approved by the prospective shareholders may not enable the greatest financial value due to current commercial and technical constraints in the industry associated with poor state of transmission and distribution capacity, underpayment /liquidity in the market aggravated by global economic recession which will make the assets to be sold at undervalue price and cause avoidable lost to the shareholders”
Speaking on the motion, Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia),urged the committees on power and privatization to investigate issues surrounding the assets.
The House cautioned the Director General BPE, Alex Okoh to desist from any act to facilitate the sale of the five power plants until duly authorised by the shareholders in a formal meeting in line with the companies and Allied Matters Act 2020.