‘FG Paid N1trn To DISCOS, GENCOS Without Evidence Of Electricity’

BENIN—Former President of Trade Union Congress, TUC, Mr. Peter Esele, has disclosed that the Federal Government paid over N1 trillion to Electricity Generation Companies, GENCOs and Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, since the commencement of the privatisation of the power sector with nothing to show for it.

He accused both the GENCOs and DISCOs of failing to fulfill their bargain in the privatisation of Nigeria’s power sector. Esele lamented that, as against established time lines in the privatisation agreement, the Gencos and Discos failed to provide steady power.

The former TUC President, who fielded questions from journalists in Benin, however, blamed the Federal Government for placing itself in a difficult situation when it privatised the power sector in 2013.

He said: “I was the TUC President in 2013 when we had the discussion about power. In the administrations of President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari, the Gencos and Discos have collected over N1 trillion. “How can we be giving money to privatise an entity? What they have done is to blackmail the government.

They are saying that they borrowed so much money from the banks.

They are saying that if the government does not make money available to them, they would not pay the banks and the banks may go under. “They do not share their profit with us. When the profit comes, they pocket it.

But you and I would carry their liability. “When privatisation is carried out, there are timelines. There are agreements. Are they meeting the timelines?

The DISCOs declared force majeure in the North-East, so they are not responsible for anything.”