Many forces are working against PHCN privatisation - Dagogo Jack

Dagogo Jack, Chairman, PTFP

The Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power(PTFP), Dagogo Jack, has alleged that beneficiaries of the public sector-led Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) management are still strategising against its the privatisation.
Jack, who was fielding questions from reporters after the Presidential Power Transactions Signing ceremony at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja on Monday, added that the beneficiaries have the potential to upstage the exercise.
He said the outgoing management and staff of the PHCN were accused of foul play.
Jack said: “Some people are even saying they are doing something negative because they know they are going.”
According to him, the Federal Government has been secretive about its plans for the settlement of labour severance packages because some of the opponents could incite the workers to oppose the exercise.
The chairman submitted that it is preferable for the Federal Government to be strategic in its labour relations.
His words: “There are too many forces. Let me share something with you. And I think you need to go away from here with that. There are a lot of forces that are not interested in this game. And sometimes when we talk about it, they think we are being defensive. But I wish you guys will at some point make it for you to be on this side of the table to know what I am talking about.
“There are some people who benefitted from the fact that there is no reform; that there is no privatisation they benefit from it. And they have been benefiting from it for years, so they have more potentials to upstage it than the people that are just trying to come inside.
” So ,when you are saying you are going to discuss labour issues on the pages of newspapers, people will go in there and sensitise labour to take another position. And you won’t know how that happens and suddenly, you are very close to closing a deal and the deal gets open again and you will not know how. So, it is better to be strategic in labour relations. That is all I will say.”
Jack also explained that it would be better to allow the investors to state their investment projection in terms of power generation and transmission capacity instead of government rolling out plans for them.
He said the electricity market is shifting ownership; when it is completed, the new owners can release their projections.