The House of Representatives yesterday directed the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company to immediately halt the planned sale of five power plants belonging to the three tiers of government.
The House said the sales did not follow due process.
Adopting a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by the Chairman of the House Committee on Power, Magaji Aliyu Dau, the House asked BPE’s Director General Alex Okoh to desist from any act aimed at facilitating the sales of the five power plants until such sales are duly authorised by the shareholders at a formal meeting, as stipulated in the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.
Leading a debate on the motion, Dau said the National Council on Privatisation and Board of Directors of the NDPHC, in collaboration with the BPE, through a request for expression of interest, had resolved to sell the five power plants located in Calabar, Cross River State; Ihorbor in Edo State; Olorunsongo in Ogun State; Omotosho in Ondo State and Geregu in Kogi State.
According to him, the plants were constructed under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) with gross installed capacities at 150 condition 5O7.6MW, 507MW, 634MW, 513MW and 754MW, respectively, to ensure the stability of Nigeria’s Power sector.
The lawmaker said the shareholding of the NDPHC is held by the Federal Government at 47 per cent; states and local governments, 53 per cent; while the board has the Vice President as the Chairman, with six governors representing the six geo-political zones and four ministers – Justice, Finance, Power and State Petroleum – as members.
He recalled that in 2013, there was an attempt to sell the power generation plants, which failed on the ground of an apparent need to stop reliance on one grid system, hence the need to set up small hydro generation plants in various states.
Dau expressed concerns that the Federal Government insisted on selling the assets, despite the fact that the consent of the other shareholders had not been resolved.