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Senate says no plan to reverse power sector privatisation

The Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, has disclosed that it has no plans to review power sector privatisation.Chairman of the committee, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, disclosed this at its meeting with representatives of Ikeja Electric Plc...

• Ikeja DISCO invests N53 billion on network

The Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, has disclosed that it has no plans to review power sector privatisation.Chairman of the committee, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, disclosed this at its meeting with representatives of Ikeja Electric Plc, led by the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Anthony Youdeowei.

Abaribe said: “Privatisation is a step in the right direction for developing the power sector, but the challenges make it seem the opposite.“We are aware that there are growing pains in terms of the privatisation, but our conviction is that we didn’t make a mistake in privatising these companies.”He explained that after listening to the Ikeja DISCO’s officials, they took note of the difficult situations under which they operate.

“Essentially, what Nigerians want from the privatisation is an improvement in provision of power; if they are not seeing that, they have every right to ask questions,” he said.The Senate committee promised Nigerians that as custodians of the people, its responsibility is to find out the challenges and find a way to mitigate them for enhanced service delivery.

The committee promised to send its recommendations and observations to the Senate. Youdeowei had told the committee that the firm has invested over N53billion on its network since the power sector was privatised five years ago.He said the management and board of IE were not oblivious of the fact that government still had 40 per cent share of the business, stressing that its commitment to investing more in the business remains unwavering.

The IE boss explained that the yearnings of customers in terms of estimated billing and metering was a challenge to them, adding that efforts were on to address the problems. Youdeowei, however, assured the Senate committee of its 100 per cent metering target, saying it was in the best interest of the distribution company to provide meter for all its customers.

He said: “Our balance sheet is in red as we have incurred huge losses. In 2017, we incurred a loss of over N65 billion and we are looking at a loss position of N80 billion by the end of this year.”He added that the firm’s business is to deliver quality service and not to give excuses, and promised to do its best to improve its services.He acknowledged customers’ complaints against estimated billing and the corresponding service rendered by the distribution companies.

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