Nigeria's Afam Plant to be Privatised

The National Council on Privatisation, headed by Nigerian vice-president Yemi Osinbajo, has approved the divestment of the Afam gas-fired plants 1-5.

The council said its decision was necessary to improve the nation's power supply. It was taken during a meeting of the council on August 22-23, 2017 and announced by Osinbajo’s office September 4.

Prior to the decision, power minister Babatunde Fashola told a press briefing June 8 that a substation, at the Afam gas-fired power plant in Rivers State in southern Nigeria, was to be revamped to increase the plant's capacity to 340 megawatts after funding had been found to fix faulty turbines and enable gas companies to supply gas to its turbines.

Activities at the privatisation council had been halted after the federal government previously mopped up about $18bn from the government's Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) account, claiming they were idle funds, which led to controversy over an earlier divestment of the Afam power plant.

In 2013 Nigerian firm Taleveras initialed agreements with French turbine-maker Alstom for a revamp of the Afam power plant and with BPE to acquire the unit. However the deals were not finalised as the government failed to sign a gas supply agreement with the company, because the BPE funds had gone. As at July 2016 Taleveras, which had paid $65 mln for the plant, was unable to move forward with the transaction.

It seems though that now those BPE funds will be released and a gas agreement signed between the private company and the federal government.

Omono Okonkwo