The Chairman of Heirs Holding and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Mr. Tony Elumelu has advised President Muhammdau Buhari to reconsider the ownership structure of the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) with a view to taking over controlling shares of the firms.
He spaoke on the sidelines of ongoing 23rd Nigerian Economic Summit holding in Abuja.
Mr. Elumelu noted that “in as much as some existing investors might like the idea, the Federal Government could not continue to allow the DisCos hold the nation down with inefficient power distribution.”
His solution to the epileptic power supply in the country is the “recapitalisation of the DisCos and then increase its stake from the current 49 per cent to 51 per cent and sell the controlling stakes to new investors, as the current operators have become obstacles to the realisation of the nation’s power capacity goal.”
According to him, “our people are very enterprising and they want to succeed. But they need the right environment to succeed. I appreciate what the government is doing for electricity but we need to do more. I empathise with the government on its efforts in that sector. But Mr. Vice President, I think there is a lot we can do to correct the ownership of that sector without affecting the property rights of the investors. That sector must be dealt with it for us to have power to do business.”
