Nigeria’s 40% stake in DisCos should be sold to foreign investors —Ahmed Lawan

Senate President Ahmed Lawan has recommended that the Nigerian government sell its 40% share in electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to foreign investors.

According to Lawan, the 40 percent holding of the Federal Government as stipulated in the Power Privatisation Act 2005 would be more beneficial to the county if it is sold to foreign investors with technical know-how.

Lawan gave this advise when he received the management team of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) led by Usman Mohammed, its managing director.

In a statement by the TCN, Lawan said experts in the field should be given an opportunity to invest in the sector.

He noted that it was not in the interest of the government to keep disbursing bailout funds to DisCos without a commensurate improvement in the power supply.

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The President also assured the TCN of the senate’s support for its proposed recapitalisation of DisCos and the transmission rehabilitation and expansion programme (TREP).

He said the programmes should be carried out with a holistic picture of how power supply challenges would be resolved once and for all.

More so, Lawan expressed displeasure with the report on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) contracts awarded three times in the past without success.

He called for a more stringent process of awarding contracts that would allow only competent firms qualified to execute the project.

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