Tag Archives: Privatisation

DisCos Reject Call For Reversal Of Privatisation

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The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) has rejected the call for the reversal of  power sector privatisation.

Billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, had made the call while speaking at the Senior Executive Course 38 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State.

Dangote said some of the people who bought power assets do not have an understanding of what they bought.

He advised the government to negotiate with them and find solutions to the problems confronting the sector.

“We should be as open as we can if government doesn’t intervene by taking back these assets and giving them to people who really have money that they can really inject, we will not be able to deliver on power,” he had said.

But the distribution companies (DisCos)  said they have been doing their best, and that there can be no “overnight” solution to a sector that had been mismanaged for over 63 years.

“Anyone who has followed the privatisation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) would recognise that the sector has been bedevilled by a number of challenges that would make the most hardened risk-seeking investor to run in the opposite direction,” ANED said.

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DisCos reject call for reversal of privatisation

Aviation Workers Protest Privatisation Of MMIA, Others

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Vehicular movements into the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, was difficult yesterday as airport workers staged a protest against the planned privatisation of four of the nation’s airports.
There was a severe gridlock on the road as vehicles coming into the airport from the Ikeja axis and the NAHCo end of the road were obstructed by the protesting workers even though there were  policemen from the Lagos Domestic Airport Police Station on ground to ensure free flow of traffic.
The protesting aviation unions include Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the National Union of Pensioners (NUP).
Acting General Secretary of NUATE, Olayinka Abioye, and General Secretary, ATSSSAN, Francis Akinjolen, who addressed the protesting workers, said that the unions will resist any attempt by the Federal Government to concession the four major airports, disclosing that the unions were aware of the presence of some influential interests that had already been positioned to buy Nigerian four most economically viable airports.
They argued that the unions cannot fold their arms and watch the retrenchment of over 6,000 workers of FAAN by a few selfish businessmen and women in the name of concession of four airports.
They further contended that the uncontrolled employment and improper placement of certain category of staff without recourse to Federal Character and Public Service Rules in recent months was a ploy to render FAAN insolvent for them to acquire.
Meanwhile, in Lagos, all gates leading to FAAN offices were shut down to ensure that all workers complied  with the directive to join the protest organised by the unions.
Some of the workers who would not have participated in the protest were seen trekking along with the union members, a situation that further confirmed that the gates to their offices were locked by the unions.
The protest came few days after the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, assured Nigerians that their interest would not be jeopardised in the resolve to concession some of the nation’s airports.

Read More:

http://sunnewsonline.com/aviation-workers-protest-privatisation-of-mmia-others/

Reps Order Halt Of Refineries Privatization

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The House of Representatives Committee on Privatization and Commercialization has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to stop its planned privatization of the nation’s refineries or joint investment ventures with some multinationals.

The committee’s chairman, Hon. Ahmed Yerima (APC, Bauchi), who gave the order yesterday in Abuja during an interactive session with the managements of the NNPC and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on the planned privatization of three  refineries in the country, said the process was in breach of relevant laws.

Earlier in his submission, the group executive director, Refineries, at the NNPC, Mr Anibor Kragba, had said the NNPC had no powers to privatize any of its refineries and that they were only seeking funds to get the refineries back to work.

Kragba, who represented the minister of state for petroleum resources and group managing director of the corporation, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, said they decided to put up some publications in certain national dailies on the matter in an effort to have joint investment ventures with interested companies.

For his part, the acting director-general, BPE, Mr Vincent Akpotarie, said the refineries that were privatized had been reversed in 2007, but that there were moves towards the end of the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration for fresh privatization of the refineries, which failed.

He added that the BPE was worried about joint venture agreements because of past experience where such ventures failed.

The committee chairman however said: “I think there’s a clear violation of the law in seeking investments based on what the BPE DG said.”

Credit: Leadership