EPILEPTIC POWER SUPPLY: Federal Govt To Revisit Privatization Of Power Sector

Worried about the inability of the Electricity Distribution Companies to live up to their responsibilities, the federal government is to focus critically on the power sector in order to break the monopoly on power distribution.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Chike Edozien.

Professor Osinbajo noted that when the power sector was privatized, electricity generation and distribution went to the private sector which regrettably had proved incompetent to cope with the enormity of the task of providing regular power supply.

The Vice President said the DISCO’s had not only failed to deliver on their mandate but could also not provide Pre-paid meters for many of their customers and maintain their assets.

He said the privatization arrangement which restricted the DISCO’s to specific areas had made things worse as consumers were bound to stick to particular companies, even in their obvious lack of capacity to deliver, without seeking help elsewhere.

The Vice President said government had experimented with canoes that could provide electricity on Willing Buyers/Willing Sellers basis at Sabongari in Kano, Ariaria in Abia and Sura in Lagos and the option was working perfectly well.

Professor Osinbajo said the federal government had invested N900bn as support, with payment assurance guarantee in the power sector, since the inception of the Buhari administration in 2015 and was in the process of investing more in a bid to improve power supply across the country.

The Asagba of Asaba, Professor Chike Edozien, had told the Vice President that the poor power supply situation in Asaba and the environs was negatively affecting business activities and urged the federal government to urgently intervene.