The House of Representatives has asked the Office of Public Companies (BPE) to stop the sale of five power plants belonging to Niger Delta Power Holding Company.
The power plants are located in Calabar (Cross River State), Ihorbor [Edo State]Olorunsogbo, Omotosho and Geregu.
The decision to halt sales followed a motion of urgent public importance tabled on Thursday by House Energy Committee Chairman Magaji Aliyu (APC, Jigawa).
Introducing the motion, Mr. Aliyu said that the power plants were built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).
He indicated that the National Privatization Council and Board of Directors of the Niger Delta Energy Holding Company (NDPHC) in collaboration with BPE have announced an expression of interest request to purchase the power plants.
Mr. Aliyu explained that the assets belong to all three levels of government: the federal government owns 47 percent, while state and local governments own 53 percent.
He added that the federal government is adamant about selling assets to finance the budget deficit without the consent of the other levels of government and others.
“The federal government insists on proceeding with the sale of these assets despite having the consent of the other shareholders; states and local governments have been awarded,” he said.
He further explained that the federal government made a similar attempt in 2013 but that the process failed.
According to Mr. Aliyu, the timing of privatization is not right in view of the economic situation around the world.
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“The current timing of privatization, even if approved by potential shareholders, may not allow for the greatest financial value due to current business and technical constraints in the industry associated with poor transmission and distribution capacity, insufficient payment /liquidity in the market aggravated by the global economic downturn that will cause assets to sell for less than value and cause avoidable losses to shareholders,” he said.
Speaking on the motion, Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia) urged the energy and privatization committees to investigate the issues related to the assets.
Consequently, the Chamber warned the General Director of BPE, Alex Okoh, to desist from any act that facilitates the sale of the five power plants until it is duly authorized by the shareholders in a formal meeting as stipulated in the Companies and Business Law. End of 2020.
When the motion was passed after Vice President Idris Wase, who was chairing the session, put it to a vote.