The Federal Government on Friday formally handed over the Yola Distribution Company to Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited, its new owner.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony in Yola, Adamawa State, Vice President Namadi Sambo said the handover was made possible because of the Federal Government’s commitment to provide stable power to Nigerians.
Sambo, who is the Chairman, National Council on Privatisation, said the ceremony culminated the 14 years of painstaking efforts by the NCP, the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Power and other key stakeholders to achieve the feat.
Represented by his Senior Special Adviser on Power, O.S. Egberongbe, Sambo said: “The participation of the private sector will bring about increased power generation.
“It will also bring about the provision of more efficient and cost effective power stations and improved electric power distribution, especially in the areas of billing, collection and transmission networks.”
He congratulated the core investors for emerging winners, saying the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the BPE would continue to monitor the operations of the successor companies.
He warned that government would not hesitate to sanction any investor who failed to deliver.
In his speech, the representative of Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited, Dr. Olusola Ayandele, said the company would invest more than N48 billion in five years.
Ayandele said: “This business plan has the potential to transform the lives of everyone in our distribution zone and the four states that we serve.
“But I need to add some words of caution here.
“It is a five-year plan, not a day-plan, not a five-week plan and not a five-month plan.”
Mohammed Roro, the outgoing Managing Director and Chief Executive of Yola Distribution Company, said the company covers Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Borno States, with 16 business units and a staff strength of 1,748.
Roro listed security, low economic and industrial activities as some of the challenges in the zone.
He urged the new successor to do something to increase power generation in the zone, stressing that the total power requirement of the zone stood at 193.6 megawatts.
He, however, added that the zone received an average of 50 to 70 megawatts in the last couple of months.
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