Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said yesterday that the solution to power shortage in the country does not lie only with the building of more power plants but also in the proper management of the power distribution companies and the distribution assets.

Fashola, who spoke in an interview with newsmen on the fringe of the on-going Joint Lagos State Executive Council and Permanent Secretaries Retreat holding  at the Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac, added that the state has written to the Federal Government to allow it take over the assets of the two distribution companies located in Lagos, namely the Eko Distribution Company and the Ikeja Distribution Company, in partnership with the people who have indicated interest to use private sector funding and capacity to manage them.

Said he: “As long as the Federal Government fails to articulate its intention in the power sector, no one will come forward with his money to invest. Until there is efficiency in the distribution end of the power chain, nobody is going to bring money into the power sector.

“We did it with the telecom companies. Immediately the telecom companies got their licenses, they rolled out their mast and repeater stations, they issued bills and collected their money and continued to invest in infrastructure that kept the system going”.
He said the National Assembly has passed the law on power sector reforms with all that remains being for the Federal Government  to complete the process by telling Nigerians what the roadmap to implementation would look like.

The governor recalled that he had met several people in the last three years who have indicated interest in coming to invest in the power sector, but want a clear roadmap before doing so, adding: “The people who did it then are still available”.

He pointed out: “It is not enough to say we are going to privatize. What is the roadmap?. The decision is not clear to us here in Nigeria and it has to be clear to us before we can send it outside”.