The chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr
Sam Amadi, has said that there is the possibility that the incoming
government of General Muhammadu Buhari can undo the privatisation of the
power sector.
Amadi who stated this during an interview in his office in Abuja, in
response to the question whether such was possible, said: “Everything is
possible; there’s no impossibility with government to, through due
process or through extra-legal actions, reverse any policy or decision.”
The NERC chairman explained that a government that comes into power
has a responsibility for making policies, in which regard, it can change
existing policy, review existing policy or vigorously pursue existing
policy.
Amadi further explained that every government is at liberty to decide
what should be its dominant economic philosophy; he. However, added
that whatever philosophy adopted will definitely have a trickle-down
effect on other policy areas, especially a sector as significant as
power.
He said: “To undo privatisation could mean using the existing
framework to rewind; for example, there are clauses in the agreements
signed by the Distribution Companies (Discos) who bought the assets, of
things that could happen in which they can pull out if they are no
longer satisfied, or which government can pull out with cost.
“So from a legal point of view, there’s due process for undoing. The
other one is extra-legal, maybe, some kind of nationalization; it’s
still theoretically possible in today’s world for government to
nationalize privately owned assets.”
However, Amadi noted that such decisions may be followed by
consequences some of which can be financial or legal, with some possibly
having serious fundamental impact on the economy and social wellbeing.
Speaking further, Amadi maintained that from his understanding of the
two major political parties, their policies are line with the framework
of the national electric power policy issued in 2,000 by the PDP-led
government which is clearly premised on privatisation and securing the
financial viability of the sector as a way of improving power supply by
sustaining investments.
“The national electric power policy is a sound policy but can be
reviewed; that will mean there are certain things we didn’t factor. Year
2,000 to date is over a decade, so there are new insights as to how
things should work. We have seen how institutions work or fail to work
and this means that there’s nothing wrong in government reviewing the
reform process in terms of going back to the founding documents and
doing some forensic.
“Find out what policies have been completed, what are we learning
from the already undertaken process? How do we make the process better
and what should we not undertake? It’s not just about undoing
privatisation because privatisation in itself is not a problem,” he
said.
Credit: Leadership
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