The Federal Government yesterday completed privatisation process and handed over the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC) to its new owners, North West Power Limited, with a vow that it will not hesitate to sanction any core investor that fails to deliver.

Vice President, Architect Mohammed Namadi Sambo, performed the hand-over at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Headquarters in Kaduna.

Sambo said the new investors paid the sum of $163m to acquire the company and have also completed payment of all outstanding entitlements of the workers of the company. Those who are yet to be settled are those who have not showed up for verification, the Vice President said.

Sambo, who was represented by Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE), Benjamin Dikki, urged the new owners to transform the company to a world-class firm in terms of quality of service delivery, social corporate responsibility, customer satisfaction and profitability.

He reiterated the present administration’s commitment to take Nigeria out of its perennial darkness within the shortest possible period.

According to him, “It needs to be restated that the electric power reform programme became imperative in order to improve efficiency, reduce losses and cost. No doubt, this reform will lead to increased access to electricity, engender private sector investment, improve infrastructure and create employment for the growing population of our citizenry.

“The participation of the private sector would bring about higher generation capacities through the provision of more efficient and cost effective power stations and improvements in electric power distribution, in the areas of billing and collection, transmission networks, etc. Such capital injection and efficiency have been inadequate in PHCN over the years, resulting in gross inadequate power supply with the attendant negative effects on the citizenry and economy at large.”

Earlier, the Chairman North West Power, Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar, had said that the company’s business plan seeks to address the weak infrastructure, metering inadequacies, safety and skills gap as well as reduction in the overall aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses.

He said: “As a company, we are committed to delivering energy efficiently and in a sustainable manner to over two-third of the North Western region of Nigeria, comprising Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states, with a view to achieving the objective of the power sector reform.

“Providing our shareholders with a reasonable return on their investment and protection of their well established track record of success and integrity.

“It may interest you to know that the choice of the name North West Power Limited to bid for the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company was not coincidental. It was a strategic decision taken by us in order to have a platform that would complement our persistent desire to develop the region where we all belong.

“It is also interesting to note that 95% of all the shareholders of North West Power Limited comes from the North Western region of this country and historically, Kaduna was not only the capital of the North West but the whole Northern region. We all belong to the North and we owe our people the duty to use our God-given talents and resources to provide services that can change their lives, revive vibrant industrial activities that were lost and create massive employment opportunities within the value chain that can engage our teaming youth in more productive activities.”

In his welcome address, the Managing Director of KEDC, Alhaji Idris Danlami, expressed delight that the privatisation exercise had been successfully completed.

He however charged the new owners to maintain the present status quo of stable power supply of not less than 23 hours except where there is collapse of power.

•Photo shows Vee Pee Sambo.

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