The Federal Government has not decided on whether it would sell or concession the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said on Wednesday.
Director, Energy Department, BPE, Yunana Malo, said this at the 56th virtual Power Dialogue with the topic, ‘A break up without scars’, organised by the Nigeria Electricity Hub in Abuja.
TCN is the electricity transmission arm of the power sector and is owned and run by the Federal Government, while the generation and distribution arms of the industry were privatised in November 2013.
The Federal Government had listed TCN and some other national assets as items to be sold or put up for concession in order to raise funds to finance the country’s budget.
But in his remarks at the power dialogue on Wednesday, Malo said no decision had been reached on the sale or concession of TCN.
He said, “I want to put it up front that the government has not yet taken any decision on TCN. I want it to be very clear, it (government) has not taken decision.
“We are on the drawing board looking at all possibilities. And like you know, before you go out to war, you have to plan, strategise and know what your objectives are and how you intend to achieve them. That is what we are currently doing.”
Malo said the National Council on Privatisation had called for thorough study of the issues before a decision would be taken about the power transmission firm.
The BPE director said, “The NCP has requested that we look at all the issues and that is why we find this panel very timely and it is going to help us tremendously.
“We believe that the reform in the power sector, which largely intended to bring in the private sector into the operations of the industry, will require that the value chain will be such that operators are like minded.”
Malo added that all operators needed to have similar principles, understand each other and have mutual respect for agreements as well as operate within certain rules and regulations of the power sector.