CEOAFRICA gathered that as part of effort to ensure continuity and ensure better service delivery, West Power and Gas Limited, the new owners of Eko disco have unveiled a $250 million investment portfolio to enable it provide the needed structure, acquire equipment and sanitize the existing system as it officially takes ownership of the former distribution company.

While speaking at the physical handover ceremony of Eko disco to the company, Charles Momoh, chairman, West Power and Gas Limited explained that the company would utilize its initial $250bn investment on metering, cabling, transformers and instituting a workable framework.

“As part of our strategy to improve the system we would also retain a good number of the former employees of the privatized Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and also invest in manpower development and training all geared towards improving the system,” Momoh elucidated.

Describing the innovative development as a major game changer in the country’s transformation process from a developing economy to an industrial giant, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, representing Vice President Namadi Sambo who is also the chairman, National Council on Privatization (NCP) at the Eko Distribution Company premises in Lagos said “the move was necessary to spur the growth of the country’s industrial sector.”

Aganga further urged the new owners to transform the successor companies being handed over to them to world class companies of reference in terms of quality service delivery, social corporate responsibility, customers’ satisfaction and profitability.

Citing the privatization of the telecoms industry as a case study, Aganga stressed that the power reform process will attract immense foreign investment into the country, increase the access of electricity, improve infrastructure and create employment for the country’s growing population of the citizenry.

Aganga noted that unlike other privatization processes which suffer from inadequate follow up on the investors by the government, both the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the BPE will continually monitor the operations of the successor companies and would not hesitate to sanction any core investor that does not deliver on the performance agreement that was executed with the government.