Business
Nigeria names buyers of five state power plants
A consortium made up of Nigerian, Chinese and British companies is set to buy the Sapele Power firm for US$201 million.
Mainstream Energy, a group including Russian firm RusHydro and several Nigerian companies won a contract to manage the Kainji Power company and North-South Power, a mostly Nigerian consortium, won a similar contract on Shiroro Power.
Mainstream and North-South had no competitors for their bids, raising question marks over the legitimacy of the sales.
There are also concerns over financing difficulties after the Nigeria’s central bank banned loans to 113 firms this week for failing to pay previous debts. These include Forte Oil and other firms bidding for power assets.
The sale of the remaining generation firm, which will run the Afam power plant, is being re-tendered after the Power Minister Barth Nnaji resigned last month when it was revealed he had a stake in one of the consortiums bidding for the asset.
If Nigeria can fix its electricity problems it could launch Africa’s second largest economy into double-digit growth and help pull millions out of poverty.
