Adewale Sanyaolu
Hope seems to be in the horizon for two troubled power assets- Afam Power Company and Yola Distribution Company (YDC) as 19 firms have expressed willingness to acquire the firms put up for sale by the Federal Government.
At the close of the submission of bids for the Expression of Interest (EOIs) for the two power companies, seven, sevencompanies submitted bids to acquire 60 per cent stake in Afam, while 12 submitted for Yola Disco.
The Head of Public Communications of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Amina Othman Tukur, in a statement shortly after the 1 pm deadline for the submission of EoIs for the two companies on Tuesday, said, among the companies that bided were renowned players in the power industry.
Tukur said the Evaluation Committee earlier set up by the Bureau to scrutinize the bids was immediately inaugurated after the expiration of the deadline by the Bureau’s Director of Energy, Mr.Yunana Jackdell Malo, to commence work.
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The request for expression of interest in the two companies was published by the BPE in national newspapers on August 16, 2018.
Recall that YDC was among the 11 Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies that was privatised and handed over to the core investor 2013.
Regrettably, a force majeure was declared in 2015 by the core investor-Integrated Energy and Distribution Marketing Company, citing insecurity in the North-East region of the country. The core investor had asked the government to buy back its 51 percent stake in the electricity distribution company.
The former core investor in Yola Diso had on six occasions (November 10, 2013, August 27, 2014, October 15 2014, April 9, 2015, April 30, 2015 and May 13, 2015) given notice of force majeure to the government.
The force majeure clause is a standard clause in most contracts and includes events such as natural disasters, wars and other occurrences not within the power or control of the executing party that makes implementation of a contract impossible
Following the failed transaction, the company was duly repossessed by the Federal Government.
The transaction for Afam Power Generation Company on the other hand fell through due to the delay in signing the Gas Supply Agreement (GSAA) and the Gas Transportation Agreement (GTA).
In 2017 the National council on Privatisation (NCP) gave approval for a fresh transaction to privatise the two power companies.