Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has proffered solutions on how to end the lingering power crisis in Nigeria, even as he exposed some dealings by past administrations.
Contributing to a motion at plenary on the protracted epileptic power supply that has enveloped the country over the decades, the former Governor of Abia said Nigeria can achieve an enhanced power supply to boost the country’s economy.
He said if Nigeria is indeed ready to have an improved power supply, it is important to create eight zones that will generate and transmit power across the nation in partnership with competent foreign companies.
The federal lawmaker expressed regret that a similar suggestion he made in 1999 was not paid due attention.
“If eight companies are created across the country for the purpose of generating, transmitting and distributing power supply, each of them will be merged with foreign companies who will have a larger percentage of the shares”, he said.
The Abia North senator said indigenous companies should have at least 15 per cent shares, federal government 25, while the foreign companies interested in partnering with Nigeria should hold about 51 per cent.
Speaking further, Kalu said the privatization of the power sector by previous administration was not properly done, hinting that it was given out to family and friends who could not manage them very well.
He expressed regret that despite the privatization processes, the federal government still spends huge sums of money in the sector, calling on the government to immediately revisit the privatization of the power sector.
According to him, “doing friendship will national asset is inimical to the growth of the country”, insisting that the companies have not posted any guarantee bill.
He, therefore, called on the federal government to take decisive steps to ensure that the sector is repositioned for optimum performance.
He also called for a quarterly update of the National Assembly by all the Nigeria companies involved in power generation, transmission and distribution to know the level of progress recorded.
