LET THERE BE LIGHT: FACTUALITY OR FLASITY

    “Let there be light and there was light” is a famous quote from the bible but likening it to the Nigerian situation only time will tell. Recently, Mr President and his cabinet once again sold another birth right of the Nigerian people. This has been an on-going trend amongst Nigerian leaders to sell government owned properties to private investors among the long list is the Ajaokuta steel plant, NITEL etc. These projects have been known to have crumbled in the past yet this does not deter the public sales, as the power sector has joined the list of privatized sector, if it fails or succeeds that is uncertain.  It is rather flabbergasting at the method at which they solely arrived to the conclusion about who controls the new power industry,  comprising of the Distribution  companies (DISCOS) and the Generating companies (GENCOS) which are fifteen in total, yet still the new investors are face masked to the populace.

          However, the president has given the new investors the mandate of producing 5000mws in the next five years which gives a subsequent arrival date of 2016/2017 which is precisely after the next general election. Is this a suggestive pro-political agenda of the 2015 election or is it impossible for the investors to meet this target in less than five years?  But the new investors are not the only ones with a mandate as NBET (Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading company)  a liability company set up by the FG prior to the sale of the power sector to see the procurement and purchase process to the later, has been financially empowered by the FG with the sum of $750 million to enable them carry out their duties without any financial constraint. The NBET has its Managing Director as Mr RMUNDAKA WONODI, chairman as Dr NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, the Minister of Finance, Minister of Power CHINEDU NEBO as Vice Chairman.  Is NBET really needed to oversee the duties of the new investors, if so what then is the portfolio of the ministry of power or is this another money gulping machine?

       Though the new investors have not taken total control of the power sector, but the question on the lips of every Nigerian is are we still going to pay higher tariffs for power as it is a consistent occurrence for the private sector to inflate the value of services. As this mystery continues to unfold one need to ask, the money made from this merger or sale what is it been invested into?  Will the ministry of power still be getting its huge budgetary allocation? Who really are the new investors?