The House of Representatives has invited memoranda from stakeholders in the power sector to enable it to ascertain who valued the country’s power assets before they were sold for $94.4 million.
Rep. Ahmed Idris, Chairman, House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the sale of the assets, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
Idris said that the committee would convene a public hearing on the matter on Dec. 7, where the stakeholders were expected to provide necessary information.
“All persons instrumental in this sale will be invited to furnish the committee with relevant information that will assist us discharge this assignment,’’ he added.
He said that there was need to properly investigate the allegation of non-transparency by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) in the deal.
He said that the goal of privatisation was marred by the sale of the sector to preferred bidders that could not pay for the value of the assets.
“The BPE encouraged the deferment of payment and restructuring of payment terms in contravention of the bidding rules to the disadvantage of some other bidders.
“The House is worried by the alleged lack of due process in the payment of $23.6 million per annum for the contract awarded to Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) of Canada.
“MHI was to manage the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for four years after which it was terminated due to non-performance.
“The question on the lips of the people is whether Nigerians got value for their assets and whether the rules of engagement were complied with.
“Nigerians would also want to know why most of the money realised from the sale was spent for payment of salaries only,” he said.
He said the committee would investigate how much return on investment the Federal Government got from the sale of the assets and whether electricity service level had improved since the privatisation.
