CEOAFRICA News Desk, according to Reuters, has reported that Nigeria’s power minister wooed prospective investors in 10 new power plants, promising them multi-billion dollar profits akin to those achieved by the telecoms sector since it was privatized in 1999.

The Nigerian government according to further reports, opened a roadshow to attract investors to buy the majority stake in new gas-fired plants, which it said would have a combined capacity of 5,453 megawatts , enough to almost double the power supply.

Nigeria’s government is offering to sell 80 percent of each plant, while keeping 20 percent under state ownership. It wants completed the deal on all 10 by mid-2014, but investors are wary of huge risks such as gas supply and transmission problems.

CEOAFRICAN News Desk, quoting the Power Minister, Chinedu Nebo, according to Reuters,“We have a unique opportunity here…it is being given to investors on a platter of gold”, the minister told the audience in a glitzy hotel in Lagos, the main commercial hub in Africa’s second biggest economy.

Again, Nebo said “What happened in the telecoms industry is about to repeat itself in the power sector, except we are expecting even greater results…it will dwarf what happened in the telecoms.
The sale of the plants marks phase two of President Goodluck Jonathan’s plans to end the crippling power shortages that have hobbled industry and made daily life a misery tor tens of millions of Nigerians. If he succeeds, it would seal his legacy, CEOAFRICA reports in line with Reuters’.

Despite being the continent’s top oil producer and holding the world’s ninth largest gas reserves, power output is a tenth of South Africa’s for a population triple the size. Sorting it out would cut business cost by a third, economist says.

“It will revolutionise the economic situation in Nigeria, reduce poverty, create jobs” Nebo said.

Furthermore, CEOAFRICA News Desk, from Reuters report, explained that in the first phase which has been underway since last year, the state power firm is being broken up for a total of around $2.5 billion. This next phase invites investors to buy new assets, instead of decrepit old state ones.
This in some ways is a bigger risk for investors because the initial capital investment could be up to $500 million, more than five times the going price of the state assets, said a government source close to the deals, according to Reuters. Nigeria has so far spent $15-$20 billion on the plants, so even at this price tag, it stands to lose a lot of money.

However, Arif Mohjuddin, a consultant working on the deals, said the government would compensate power plant owners for any income lost due to a lark of gas supply or problems transmitting electricity through the grid to end users “They (the investors) only take risks in terms of the operation they are running, not for instance the gas supply” Mohjuddin said, as reported by Reuters and documented by CEOAFRICA News Desk.