Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam has blamed the current drop in power supply which is being experienced in the country on the operations of economic saboteurs.
Suswam stated this while briefing journalists at the end of a joint meeting of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and National Council on Privatization (Nthis's hitch was presided by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
He also noted that the work of saboteurs have compounded gas supply in the country due to lack of gas infrastructure.
He said: "Well, you know that there are difficulties in any transition. For the first time, since independence in this country, government have controlled the monopoly of power generation and distribution. This is the first time that they are going to transit from government to private sector.
"We have some issues, no doubt about that. Issues of gas basically is where we are having issues. The gas infrastructure as you all know had not yet been properly put in place.
"And so, some of the generating companies are experiencing some hiccups with gas supplies. This is being attended to in conjunction with the NNPC and the ministry of power.
"I think that down the road within the shortest possible time, the issue of gas infrastructure will be over."
Continuing he said: "Now the fundamental problem with the issue of gas infrastructure is the vandalization of those infrastructure. You know, this is purely sabotage because in crude, you know that people who vandalise these crude pipelines are lifting them and selling them for money."
"But when you vandalise the gas pipelines, there is no way you can scoop it. You know it is like air. You can't scoop it. These are people who are economic saboteurs and they should be treated as such."
"So, this is something that should be of concern to the whole nigerians because any person who goes intentionally to sabotage an activity of government that would impact positively on the economy of this country should be treated as economic saboteur."
"So we have these issues that are militating against the smooth supply of power even after the privatisation process. So, it is not the BPE problem. I believe that before end of this year, we will be able to get out most of them." He added
Besides the work of the saboteurs, Suswam said, that such privatization exercise normally undergo some teething problems which are being resolved by the Ministry of Power.
"So, you should ordinarily expect some teething problems. These teething problems are being addressed by the ministry of power." He stated
He further disclosed that 42 out of 66 proposals for the purchase of 80℅ shares in the 10 power holding companies have qualified for financial bids opening billed for next Friday.
He said "This is a briefing of the joint meeting of the Niger delta power holding company and national Council on Privatization. It is a continuation of briefing on the process of transaction on the sale of the 10 power holding companies.
"We met today, and report was submitted to the joint body and decisions have been taken. So, you're aware that in November 8th, 2013, the Niger Delta power holding company received 66 proposals for the offer of sales of the 80 percent of the shares in each of the ten generating companies developed under the National Integration power projects .
"The evaluation team carried out the evaluation exercise following the approved evaluation criteria and guidelines and subsequent due diligence reports have now been approved and reviewed by the joint transaction board.
"Of the 66 proposals received, 54 proposals met the criteria to be technically qualified based on the findings of the subsequent due diligence exercise. 42 proposals have qualified for the financial bids opening.
"Consequently, of the 66 proposals submitted, a total of 24 are either failed the technical evaluation or the due diligences assessment.
He added "The number of proposals received and qualified for each of the Niger Delta power generating companies will be subsequently published, each of the companies that qualified for each company will be published subsequently.
"But out of the 66, only 42 are qualified for the financial bids opening that will be done next week Friday So, the NDPHC will publish the names of those who are qualified for the purpose of the general public". -
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