Nigeria’s 10 National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) have been slated for full privatization next year. The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) disclosed yesterday that it will soon open financial bidding for the 10 power plants.

BPE Director-General Benjamin Dikki made the disclosure at the sideline of the signing of the share purchase agreement for Kaduna Distribution Company and Afam Generation Company bought by Televaras Group and Northwest power limited respectively.

Dikki identified the imperativeness of the action in order to expedite action on the entire power privatisation process, so that the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda on efficient electricity supply would have been seen to be concluded in earnest.

The BPE boss said government has put up functional mechanisms in place to ensure provision of enabling environment for the programme.

“On our part, we are ever ready; what next is for us to secure the necessary approvals from the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), once that is done, we would have come to a situation where power sector is completely in private hands,” he stated.

Dikki, however, hinted that the sector being in private hands does not, in any way, preclude government’s investments in power sector, as is already being contemplated for the Mambilla, Zungeru and Shiroro Hydros.

“Government,” he said, “can also be a player once a sector is completely liberalised, because there is no hindrance for participation on the part of government, in any way. Government will continue to play a role in the power sector, until we reach a situation where we have sufficient power to drive the economic growth of the country.”

Explaining the rationale behind late agreement signing for Northwest and Taleveras when other successor firms had been handed over to preferred bidders on November 1, Dikki said the original winners of Afam Power Plant and Kaduna DISCO could not meet up the bid requirement, hence the cancellation that led to repeat exercise, during which the two companies won outstandingly, and also met the requirements.

The BPE DG had earlier described the event as a success and competitive in terms of achieving the desired reforms in the power sector which began by the constitution of the Electric Power Sector Implementation Committee by the NCP.

This committee, he reiterated, was mandated to undertake a comprehensive study of the electricity power industry, resulting in the development of a power blueprint that was later to define government’s new direction for the achievement of a remarkable improvement in the power sector.

The BPE boss said that the approved National Electricity Power Policy document has contributed immensely to the liberalisation of the industry, thereby providing an enabling environment for the private sector investors to cash into the potentials in the sector.

•Photo shows BPE DG Benjamin Dikki.