Workers of the five power plants of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company put up for sale by the Federal Government will be absorbed by the new owners of the plants.
Sanya Adejokun, the media adviser to the NDPHC Managing Director, Chiedu Ugbo, disclosed that in a chat with our correspondent, allaying fears of possible retrenchment of the workers.
NewsNow reported earlier that the Federal Government was planning to sell five power plants under the National Integrated Power Projects, estimated to be $1.15bn.
The power plants are the 434 megawatts Geregu II gas-fired plant in Kogi State, the 451MW Omotosho II plant in Ondo State, the 750MW Olorunshogo II Plant in Ogun State, the 563MW Odukpami Power Plant in Calabar, Cross River State and the 451MW Benin-Ihovbor Plant in Edo State.
The acting Director-General of BPE, Ignatius Ayewoh, confirmed that the transaction was underway, emphasising that it had not been finalised.
Reports indicated that the Omotosho Plant would be sold for $85m while the Olorunsogo II cost $170m.
The Benin-Ihovbor Plant is priced at $420m, the Calabar Odukpami Plant would be sold for around $260m, while the Geregu plant is going for $215m.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said recently that the bidding process had been finalised and a final report submitted to the National Council of Privatisation, which is chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
While Adelabu expressed optimism that the sale of the assets would increase government revenue and bring better efficiency to the power sector, workers at the affected plants were anxious about what could be their fate after the sale of the national assets, which currently function below their installed capacity.
Our correspondent gathered that some of the employees of the NDPHC were panicking that they might be shown the way out by the new owners.
However, Adejokun said he was not aware of any plan to retrench staffers of the NDPHC as a result of the sale of the plants.
“I am not aware of plans to retrench any staff of the company, and please note that workers in the privatised power plants will move with the new owners,” Adejokun noted.
He explained that the sale of the five power plants would not affect the operations of the NDPHC, as there were other plants within the conglomerate.
He noted that NDPHC would continue to operate effectively.
“NDPHC is a federation company. There have been long-term plans to privatise some of the power plants being managed by NDPHC. Aside from the five plants currently slated for privatisation, there are other plants within the conglomerate. NDPHC is a holding company for NIPP and will continue to operate,” he stated.
Adejokun listed other NDPHC power plants, including Geregu Generation Company Limited, Kogi State; Omotosho Generation Company Limited, Ondo State; Olorunshogo Generation Company, Ogun State; and Ogorode Power Plant in Sapele, Delta State.
Others are Alaoji, Gbarain, Omoku and Egbema power plants.
Meanwhile, the National President of the National Union of Electricity Employees, Adebiyi Adeyeye, declined comments when he was contacted by our correspondents over the matter.
However, the NDPHC boss recently recalled that the Nigerian government had invested a lot in the NDPHC, but its 4,000MW generation capacity was underutilised.
“The Nigerian federation has invested in us so much to the extent that we have 4,000MW generation capacity built with people’s funds, but it is grossly underutilised due to a number of factors outside NDPHC’s control,” Ugbo stated.