Canadian, Indian, Irish firms to run power transmission

The arrangement is in line with the new National Electric Power Roadmap which was unveiled Thursday in Lagos by President Goodluck Jonathan in which the Federal Government plans to sell its stakes in the 17 out of the 18 companies of Power Holding Company of Nigeria and hand over the  management of the transmission company, […]

The arrangement is in line with the new National Electric Power Roadmap which was unveiled Thursday in Lagos by President Goodluck Jonathan in which the Federal Government plans to sell its stakes in the 17 out of the 18 companies of Power Holding Company of Nigeria and hand over the  management of the transmission company, which is in charge of the National Grid, to the private sector.

Manitoba Hydro, owned by the Canadian Province of Manitoba, India’s Power Grid Corp and Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board (ESB) are the final bidders to manage the transmission grid.

“I can tell you that we expect to finalise everything and hand over by the end of the year,” Bart Nnaji, head of a presidential taskforce charged with reforming the power sector was quoted to have told Reuters.

Under the strategy, Nigeria will privatise electricity generation and distribution. It will continue to own the national grid but its management will be privatised.

Despite producing more than 2 million barrels of crude oil per day, Nigeria relies on diesel generators to power everything from phone chargers to luxury hotels because of constant power outages which are a major barriers on growth.

Jonathan’s plan, unveiled less than five months before elections are due to be held, is the most comprehensive yet designed to solve the nation’s power problems.

Previous privatisation efforts, most recently of former state telecoms monopoly NITEL, have been a failure and investors say the roadmap for reform will need to be backed up by cast-iron guarantees on the regulatory framework.