By ABAH SUNDAY, Abuja
Ten years after the privatisation of the Nigerian power sector, market participants, government agencies, and institutions, as well as other key stakeholders are to commence the maiden roundtable evaluation of the performance of the sector and its challenges on Monday, 30 October in Abuja as a step towards charting a pathway for the progression of the power sector.
The three-day Inaugural Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, Market Participants and Stakeholders Roundtable, NMPSR, Event 2023 with the theme: “NESI privatisation and Its 10-year milestone: The Journey So Far, Opportunities and Prospects,”
is scheduled to hold at the PTDF auditorium in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
This was contained in a statement issued on Sunday, signed by Prof. Steve Ogaji and Bode Fadipe, Chairman and Secretary, NMPSR Planning Committee, respectively.
Speaking to the imperative of the roundtable, the statement noted that it’s the view of critical stakeholders in the sector that evaluating it’s performance for the first decade along the lines of defined parameters would afford players the opportunity to clinically determine the issues in the sector and proffer
solutions.
“Significantly, this 10-year milestone, post-privatisation, in view of the continued challenges of the power sector, presents the perfect opportunity that is not so much a celebration but a sober reflection/retrospection and an audit of how far we have come, how much further we need to go, and what we require for the journey ahead.
“The roundtable is expected to provide a platform for leading energy professionals and other related experts to discuss and objectively determine a way forward for a privatised NESI, consistent with the aspirations and objectives of NEPP, and ultimately design a post privatisation roadmap that will be presented to decision/policy makers, as NESI market participants and stakeholders’ comprehensive contribution to power sector policy
formulation and implementation,” it explained further.
Giving an insight into the event’s package, Prof Stephen Ogaji, said the 3-day Roundtable event will have eight plenary sessions which will encompass the various segments of the NESI viz: Power Generation; Gas to power; Power Distribution, Transmission, Metering and Customer Centricity, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, Access to Finance, Liquidity and Recapitalisation.
The conference will also look at the regulatory and policy ecosystem,
with a particular emphasis on the Electricity Act, 2023.
The organisers lamented that even though much has gone into the privatisation in the last 10 years, not much, as expected, was achieved to move the sector forward, hence the aptness of this year’s event and its theme.
“As you are aware, the privatisation of the NESI, which took place in 2013 marked a historic turning point in Nigeria’s energy sector, transitioning it from the era of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, to a system of private investor ownership and participation.
“However, the progress in NESI, post-privatisation has not fully met the lofty expectations set forth in the National Electricity Power Policy, 2001 (NEPP), the Electric Power Sector
Reform Act, 2005, EPSRA, now Electricity Act 2023, and the Road Map for Power Sector Reform, 2010.
“Consequently, while acknowledging the ten-year post-privatisation milestone, under the umbrella of NMPSR, the operators and other stakeholders of NESI stakeholders are also seeking to assess the evolution of the privatisation, assess the areas of constraint, and determine a roadmap that will provide the pathway to the progress that is currently impeded by various factors,” the statement further noted.