PUBLIC –PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN THE POWER SECTOR - Challenges And ProspectsABOUT THE WORKSHOP

Electricity   production   and   supply   in   Nigeria   has   been   a   monopoly   of  the government  utility  body known  as National  Electric  Power  Authority  (NEPA) since  1972 till  early  part  of  2006.  This  utility  has  been  run  as  a  vertically  integrated  company  charged with the  responsibility for the generation, transmission, distribution and  sale of electricity  to  customers.  Inadequate  funding  and   bad  management  resulted  in  the steady  decline  in  the  performance of  the  utility.  Electricity  plants  are  not adequately maintained  and   where   maintenance  is  attempted,  reliability  centred  maintenance procedure  is   not   adopted.  Between   1981 and   1985,   during   the   Fourth   National Development Plan, the   oil boom   increases power   demand growth   rate   by  over   10 percent. The rapid growth rate makes it difficult for the installed capacity to cope  with the  requirement of both  residential and  industrial consumers.

In March, 2005 the federal  government establishes  the  Nigerian  Electricity  Regulatory  Commission  (NERC) as  an  independent  and  self-funding  sector  regulator,  and  transforms National  Electric Power  Authority  (NEPA) to  Power  Holding  Company  of Nigeria  (PHCN)  and  unbundles NEPA  into  the  19  successor companies.  The  plan  is  that  by  December 2006,  all  the successor companies would have  taken-off  and  PHCN would be phased out.  

The programme shall critically analyze  the adoption  of  PPP  as  a strategy  in  ongoing power  sector  reform  in  Nigeria with a view to finding solution to the critical challenges. PPPs provide an opportunity to: • Improve Service Delivery• Improve cost-effectiveness• Increase investment in public infrastructure• Reduce public sector risk• Deliver capital projects faster• Better use of assetsThe participants shall be exposed to strategies that could facilitate PPP to succeed  in Nigeria and to address the challenges to enhance  the  success  of adopting PPP in the Nigerian power sector. This is the raison d’etre for this workshop.

Workshop Objective

The aims and objectives of the Training Workshop are to highlight the prospects of Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the transformation of Nigerian power sector. It is believed that sustainable national development can only be achieved through creating a synergy between the private and the public sectors of the economy as is the case in many countries of the world. The workshop will therefore serve as a forum for discussing the prospects of various PPP initiatives for enhanced electricity power sector which will ipso-facto facilitate economic productivity and national development in Nigeria Designed For:  This course is designed for policy makers, middle and senior level officers in the power sector.  Infrastructural development organizations, organizations saddled with the responsibility of implementing Public Private Partnership.