The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has briefed the Nigerian Asociation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) on how far they have gone in implementing government’s power sector reforms in the electricity industry.

At a one day workshop on the Power Roadmap: How Far, organised by NACCIMA Power Sector group, Albert Oghenemaro Mould-Shalom of Electric Power Department of the Bureau, said the BPE has gone far in implementing the power sector reforms programme.

In a presentation on ‘Progress and challenges of power sector privatisation in Nigeria, he disclosed that recently, the BPE received 331 Expression of Interests (EOI) from core and concessionaire investors.

“Out of the 331, 174 applied for Gencos (Generation companies) and 157 for Discos(distribution companies), he said. He asserted that the BPE is now on the verge of re-engaging an adviser for the procurement of a management contractor for Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

According to him, the electric power sector reform is government’s effort at revamping the sector for maximum benefit.

“All we require now and appeal for is your support to conclude government’s reforms in the sector,” he told the stakeholders.

However, in his own presentation, Chairman, Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Engr. Joseph Makoju, called for an alternative approach to power sector reforms.

Makoju, who spoke on “PPP Enabling Environment,’ asserted that the traditional model in which government has been playing the ubiquitous role of policy maker, regulator, operator, and financier, among others, has failed to deliver the desired results, hence, the need for an alternative approach. He told delegates at the conference that bearing in mind that the unbundling of Power Holding Company has not yielded the desired results, government should focus more on ppp models.

“various ppp models exists depending on the structure of the transaction and the role of each party. They vary from management contracts where the private entity takes very little risk to more intricate arrangement. According to him, ppp models such as O&M, ROT, LOT,DBOT, BOO, Alliancing, bundling, competitive partnerships, incremental partnerships and integrator.

The ultimate destination is an electricity industry that is largely in the hands o the private sector. Meanwhile, Power Sector Reforms in Nigeria started under the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).

The main aim of the government was to utilise the financial, human and other resources for the development of the electricity industry effectively and to spread the electricity supply across the country.

The supply of electricity was not adequate in the country and power failure was very common. Moreover, the electricity industry had been suffering from high technical losses and less availability of the power generating plants. That is why, power sector reform had been introduced in 2000.