PHCN: FG signs deals with bid winners today

By The Citizen

The Federal Government said yesterday that it will sign most of the agreements with the bid winners of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, successor companies today.

Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who disclosed this at  the on-going Nigerian Oil and Gas, NOG Conference, in Abuja, said: 'Hopefully, by Thursday (today), most of the contracts will be signed in a very significant function. Agreements with most of the companies that won the bid to purchase the Gencos and Discos will be signed.'

The contracts to be signed include those for generation companies(Gencos) and distribution companies (Discos), for which bank guarantees were recently verified by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, which handled the privatisation exercises.

Nebo reassured investors that the Federal Government will ensure that all outstanding debts owed by its ministries, departments, and agencies(MDAs),will be settled by mid-year.

'We will also ensure that regulatory agencies, market operators, system operators and MDAs are consistently delivering on their respective mandates and to ensure that payments are made as at when due,' he said, 'It has always been a problem that many of the government agencies are owing billions of naira. This is not going to continue as the privatisation enters its concluding phase.'