The House of Representatives on Thursday called on the federal government to halt every arrangement toward the privatization of the Niger Delta Power Holding, the only remaining generating company wholly owned by the 3 tiers of government.
Consequently, the House directed the committees on power and Privatization and Commercialization to investigate the planned sale of the NIPP power plants of the NDPHC and report back to it within four(4) weeks for further legislative action.
The resolutions suspending the planned sale of NIPP followed the adoption of a motion under matter of urgent public importance brought by Hon. Kayode Musbau (APC, Lagos), wherein he called attention to the danger of selling off the remaining national assets in the power sector, even though the distribution companies so privatised have not lived up to expectations.
This was even as the lead committee on power, has written to the director general of the Bureau for Public Enterprise, BPE inviting the agency to appear before the joint committee for an investigative hearing.
Titled; ‘Need to Investigate the Planned Privatization of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Power Plants’, the lawmaker while presenting the motion noted that the Niger Deita Power Holding Company (NDPHC) is a public asset that can’t just be sold off without proper explanations as to the benefits of such privatization after expending tax payers money to establish them.
“In 2005, the National Council of State and the National Assembly approved an initial funding of US$25 billion for NIPP from the Excess Crude Oil Account (ECOA) which statutorily belongs to the Federal, State and Local governments.
“The Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) is the legal vehicle vested to manage the NIPP for its shareholders — the Federal, State and Local governments.
“In 2013, the Federal Government announced the proposed privatization of some NiPP power plants which are owned by the NDPHC, with a plan to reinvest the proceeds from the company in developing renewable power generation projects, however myriad of challenges that bedeviled the power sector mitigated against the effort.
“In April 2021, the Board of Directors of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) agreed to resolve all issues mitigating against the sale of the assets and considered a special budgetary intervention of One Hundred Million Dollars ($100,000,000) for improved offtake of the sate of NDPHC’s stranded power;
“The Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) recently announced the proposed sale of five (5) NIPP assets in Cross River, Edo, Ondo, Ogun and Kogi States with the aim of using the proceeds to fund the Federal Government budget-deficit.
“The assets under consideration do not belong exclusively to the Federal Government but the three tiers of government.
Concerned that the Federal Government did not take some vital issues into consideration such. as the applicable policy, and the appropriate legal framework or legislation under which the transactions will be implemented, as well as the laws relating to procurement or disposal of shares and assets, given the shareholding of the States and Local Governments”, the lawmaker argued.
He expressed concerns that the Joint Transaction Board (JTB), which was created to handle the sale of NIPP power plants, did not approve the sale of five power plants, wondering why the BPE is hell vent on going ahead with the sale.
“The BPE, being a statutory body, can only act in accordance with its enabling legislation, the Privatisation Act, and considering that State Governments assets can only be disposed of in accordance to State law, the State Governments cannot validly accede to the application of Federal Legislation to the divestment of their ownership interest in the NIPP assets,” the lawmaker stressed.
Following the resolution, the lead committee on power in a letter dated July 1,2021 as seen by journalists invited the leadership of the BPE to appear before it for explanations at an investigative hearing on Tuesday 13th July, 2021.
The letter with reference number NASS/9/HR/CT.87/148 was signed by the chairman, Hon. Magaji Da’u Aliyu (APC, Jigawa), referred to the resolution of the House on the subject matter, just as it demanded the presence of the agency with preceding relevant documents for legislative scrutiny.
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