BPE defends sale of electricity assets

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), said integrity and transparency were not compromised during the sales of electricity assets in the country.The Director General, BPE, Alex Okoh said the criticism that trailed the privatisation of the power companies, and the lessons learnt in the exercise would be applied to set a standard for fresh privatisation transactions.
 
According to him, transparency and professionalism are key to all the Bureau’s transactions, while reiterating the Bureau’s resolve not to compromise on transparency and integrity in the sale and management of public assets in Nigeria.
  
Speaking at the joint kick-off meeting of the transaction advisers for the privatisation of Afam Power Generation Plant, and Yola Power Distribution Company in Abuja recently, the Director General also said the Bureau had raised the bar for privatisation transactions.
  
He equally assured that stakeholders would be carried along throughout the entire stages of the transactions.On the emergence of FBN Quest Consortium as the sole transaction adviser for Yola and Afam Power companies, he defended that there was nothing untoward about it. Rather, “it is in furtherance of the Bureau’s stance on transparency because the Consortium participated in the two distinct bidding processes for the selection of transactions advisers and emerged, as the preferred bidder for Yola Power Company, and reserved bidder for Afam Power Company.”
  
He explained that when negotiations with the preferred bidder – Energy Markets & Rates Consortium (EMRC), for advisory services for Afam Power Company transaction fell through, the BPE made recourse to the reserved bidder – FBN Quest, in line with best practice.
  
While expressing confidence in FBN Quest’s ability to deliver on both transactions, the BPE boss pledged the Bureau’s support towards ensuring the success of the standards to be set in the fresh transactions.
  
In response, the Deputy Managing Director, FBN Quest Consortium, Taiwo Okeowo, said the Consortium’s goal is to partner with BPE to set an improved standard in the course of the transactions and post-transaction activities.
  
To achieve this, he said a team of professionals cutting across technical experts, legal services as well as financial experts were on board to execute the task.