KEY POINTS

• Egbin Power gathers ₦1.6tn from Federal Government’s debt he said, up from ₦1.4tn in March.
• Through legislation or even motions relating to the NBET and the BPE the senate has promised to do something about the issue.
• Egbin Power still insists on grid stability despite the challenges that include vandalism, grid instabilities, and forex issues.

Despite the hopes that this privatisation will improve the efficiency of the service being provided in the country, there are questionable characters such as Egbin Power Plc whose ₦1.6tn debt in form of unpaid monetary facility it owes the Federal Government has drawn the attention of the Senate Committee on Privatisation.

Senate assures action on N1.6trn owed Egbin power

When the committee toured the power plant on Wednesday, it pledged to help the company alleviate the financial loss.

Vice Chairman of the committee, Senator Emmanuel Udende, described the company as one that has kept operations going despite its appalling debt and other challenges.

“This debt is gargantuan but still, the organisation continues to run.” I will study the whole report in detail to consider actions such as motions or legislation to reduce this pressure,” Udende said.

Committee will engage NBET and BPE to find ways of solving the debt problem even as it evaluates the performance of privatised assets.

Functional issues and work integration demands

Egbin Power’s CEO, Mokhtar Bounour highlighted the company obstacles, pertained; inconsistency of the grid, vandalism, as well as foreign exchange.

He urged Senate backing to address those problems and said that consumer domestic gas price and improved grid reliability were priorities for him.

In his contribution, the Group Managing Director of Sahara Group, Kola Adesina described vandalism as one of the factors that led to the grid collapses, he called for broader community engagement and bottom up strategies.

“Vandals live among us. They make the nation poorer and an economy rollback any progress it has made. As they say, it’s time for collective responsibility,” Adesina said as he touched on the need to reform the value systems.

However, Adesina reiterated the company’s determination to supply steady electricity noting that energy is a key in the nation’s development.