The Socio-Economic Rights and
Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a Freedom of Information (FoI) request
to Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), asking him to
use his good offices and leadership position “to urgently provide information
on specific details of spending on the privatisation of the electricity sector
and the exact amount of post-privatisation spending to date, and to explain if
such spending came from budgetary allocations or other sources".
The organization is also asking for “information on the status of implementation of the 25-year national energy
development plan, and whether the Code of Ethics of the privatization process,
which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and members of the
National Council on Privatization (NCP) from buying shares in companies being
privatized, were deliberately flouted.”
In a letter, dated May 7, 2018,
and signed by SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, said:
"Since the privatisation of the power sector, the government has continued
to use public resources to subsidize private entities. The Goodluck Jonathan
government reportedly spent over N400 billion on the power sector while the
present government spent over N500 billion on the sector despite privatisation.
It is unclear if this spending is drawn from budgetary allocations and if these
are loans to generation companies (GENCOS), Distribution companies (DISCOS) and
Transmission Company of Nigeria.
"Assuming the funds are given
as loans, SERAP would like to know whether appropriate guarantees have been
provided to secure such loans, and whether such loans provide value for money
for Nigerian tax-payers. Publishing details of spending on privatization of the
power sector and post-privatization spending on GENCOS and DISCOS would serve
the public interest and provide insights relevant to the public debate on
combating corruption in the power sector as well as help to improve citizens’
access to regular and uninterrupted electricity supply."
SERAP warned that should the requested
information not be provided within 14 days, it would "take all appropriate
legal actions under the Freedom of Information Act to compel you to comply with
our request".
The organization expressed concern
that “the privatization of the sector and unbundling of the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into different generation, distribution and
transmission as well as post-privatization spending and the identities of those
who bought GENCOS and DISCOS have remained shrouded in secrecy".
"The privatization of power
assets has already caused major crises, ranging from illiquidity, load
rejection, metering, corrupt practices, lack of gas to power the stations,
disinterestedness of investors, lack of injection of fresh capital after
acquisition of financing, tariff interest, consumer apathy, foreign exchange
hostilities, and sundry issues," it said.
"Most of the companies that won
the bids had no prior experience in the power sector and little or no capacity
at all to manage the sector. The privatization of PHCN would appear to have
yielded the country total darkness. SERAP is concerned that gains of
privatization have been lost through alleged corruption, manipulation of rules
and disregard to extant laws and lack of transparency in the exercise.”
"The goals of privatization
have been marred by the sale of the sector to preferred bidders that could not
pay the bid value on the sale, instead the PBE encouraged the deferment of
payment and restructuring of payment terms in contravention of bidding rules to
the disadvantage of other bidders. Most of the acquiring companies only managed
to put together acquisition finances without potent capacity to source or
attract post-acquisition funding to upgrade the generation and distribution
infrastructure.”
"Government has had to further
intervene by way of funds ejection, guarantees and assurances despite
privatizing those assets. Nigerians are also entitled to the right to truth
derived from the obligations of the government to carry out an investigation of
allegations of corruption committed within its jurisdiction; to identify,
prosecute and punish those responsible; and to ensure that victims have the
simple and prompt recourse for protection against violation of fundamental
rights, as well as to ensure transparency in public administration.”
"SERAP believes that the right
to truth allows Nigerians to gain access to information essential to the fight
against corruption and in turn development of democratic institutions as well
as provides a form of reparation to victims of grand corruption in the country.
International human rights and anticorruption standards impose limits or
conditions on the way a given process of privatisation is carried out. In fact,
the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment
3 has implied that privatisation process should not be detrimental to the
effective realization of all human rights.
"By Section 1 (1) of the
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011, SERAP is entitled as of right to request
for or gain access to information, including information on post-privatization
spending by the Federal Government and accounts of spending by the private
entities such as GENCOS and DISCOS. By Section 4 (a) of the FOI Act when a
person makes a request for information from a public official, institution or
agency, the public official, institution or urgency to whom the application is
directed is under a binding legal obligation to provide the applicant with the
information requested for, except as otherwise provided by the Act, within 7
days after the application is received.”
"By Sections 2(3)(d)(V) &
(4) of the FOI Act, there is a binding legal duty to ensure that documents
containing information relating to the spending on privatization of the power
sector and post privatization spending on GENCOS and DISCOS are widely
disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through
various means. The information being requested does not come within the purview
of the types of information exempted from disclosure by the provisions of the
FOI Act.”
"The information requested for,
apart from not being exempted from disclosure under the FOI Act, bothers on an
issue of national interest, public concern, interest of human rights, social
justice, good governance, transparency and accountability.”
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