Epileptic power : Association urges FG to review sale of power sector

Mr Vincent Ugbor, the National President of Hotel and Personnel Service Employer Association of Nigeria (HOPESEA) has called on the Federal Government to immediately review sale of the power sector.

Ugbor made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that it was an irony that Nigerians had to pay for non- existent services, adding that the hike in tariff was killing businesses, especially the hotel business.

“From all indications, the crop of investors in the power sector does not have what it takes to manage the sector.

“The owners have not made any investment since they bought over the companies that will turn things around. They are just ripping from a dull system.

“It is either they are ready to invest or the government should review the privatisation they did and look for genuine investors that have money and can make it work.

“They may have sold the power sector of the country based on political patronage,’’ Ugbor said.

According to him, government still retains some percentage of ownership and as part owners, government needed to do its own part.

“I think the investors are not sincere; government should intervene,’’ Ugbor said.

Ugbor decried the cost of running businesses as “very high’’, saying that many of its members were sending their staff away because they could not cope.

“It is very devastating as there is no power, no fuel and the masses are suffering yet the investors don’t feel any concern; they are just after their profits,” Ugbor said.

The HOPESEA president said that it was power that “drives the economy’’, adding that if the government could fix power alone, it would go a long way to jumpstarting the economy.

He described power as indispensable, and urged government to look into the issues in order to make things work again.

On diversification of the economy, Ugbor said that the government had not done much to create an enabling environment for tourism to strive in the country.

“Even now, there is no Ministry of Tourism; there is nothing to show that there is emphasis on tourism and we all know that tourism is a cash cow.

“Now that the security problems have been reduced, the government could leverage on that to promote tourism but they are just paying lip service to it,” he said.