Nigerian govt to sell Afam, Yola DisCo

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), an agency of the Federal Government, has called for Expressions of Interest from prospective investors who are interested in buying 60 percent stake in Afam Power Plc and Yola Electricity Distribution Company Plc.

Afam is a thermal power generation company in Nigeria, Yola DisCo, which services Adamawa, Borno, Taraba and Yobe states, is one of the eleven electricity distributions companies in the country, while BPE is an agency charged with the overall responsibility of implementing the Nigerian policy on privatization and commercialization.

The Head of Public Communications of BPE, Amina Othman, told Punch in Abuja on Thursday, that the sale of the firms would take place between December and January 2019, but prospective investors would have up until September 26 this year to send in their Expressions of Interest in order to participate in the transactions.

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According to the BPE, both local and foreign investors could participate in the privatisation exercise upon submission of relevant documents including evidence of incorporation, payment of taxes and capacity to manage the power firms.

The sale of Yola Disco followed poor management of the company occasioned by the activities of Boko Haram in the North Eastern part of the country, particularly Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states which are part of the four states covered by Yola DisCo.

In view of this, the Integrated Energy and Distribution Marketing Company had asked the government to buy back its 51 percent stake in the company.

In June, the National Council on Privatisation of the Federal Government had approved the appointment of transaction advisers for the privatisation of the two power firms, which were carved out of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

The Director-General of the privatization agency, Alex Okoh, had stated that the government expected N400 billion from the sale of the public enterprises, which would be ploughed into funding the 2018 budget.

But the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, while giving a breakdown of the 2018 Budget, said a total of N306 billion was estimated as proceeds from privatisation which would be used to finance over N2 trillion deficit in the budget.

 

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