the telecoms industry is a clear example of the benefits of privatisation

competition and accountability

i can still remember queuing outside nitel phone booths to make international phone calls and receiving phone calls in a neigbours house.

when mtn came on board - sims were 15k, chrges were per minute. today a sim is 150n and there are all sorts of plans - why - competition!

as long as the industry is fully deregulated, we will all benefit immensely, as it is competition. we will also be able to hold the power companies liable.

to be fair to phcn, it is their distribution workers, especially those in lagos that are really corrupt.

the fg has failed woefully as far as phcn is concerned.

most of those nepa workers want things to continue as is. who wants to be accountable?

@oyb,
do u see privatisation of all these sectors as a long term or short term measures? there is always a diminishing returns. what happens to the workers? what will be the implication of having 90% of our citizens unemployed?
with my little knowledge of economics, enterprenuers(those in private sector) have just one main objective and that is maximizing profits at the end of the day.
with these high levels of corruption in nigeria, do u know the level of risks we will incur in privatisation of electricity.
do u know how many sim cards i v bought and do u know how many internet morden i have bought. when u privatise any sector, u must make room for govt to monitor same otherwise chinese materials like we are seeing in all these telecommunication companies. their moden burn with ease bcs no market board.
electricity in the hands of corrupt nigerians will burn down this country in a short while in their quest to maximize profits.
if jonathan thinks he can't handle this problems, let him resign.
we can't have a skeletal govt that concentrates more on looting than the interests of the citizenry.
when all these things are left in the hand sof private ppl, our oil funds will be shared among the politicians and the masses will end up paying taxes to govt and private individuals and get nothing in returns.
IF I MAY ASK, AFTER PRIVATISING ALL THESE THINGS, WILL NIGERIANS STILL BE PAYING TAXES

Ujujoan:

PHCN on it's own is a failure. They should be able to checkmate corruption in their establishment.

It's this 'government work' metality that's their problem. That's why they should be allowed to rest!  

It is oh my broda . . .  

Although i've spent more than the cost price replacing random parts and making repairs brought about by wear and tear.

Kai, what's taking that milloniare hubby so long        

generator costs are cutting into his business  profits - he'll be along as soon as he can sort out his energy costs

AjanleKoko:

^^^
Telecoms is a lot easier to privatize.

yeah, what with power being so capital intensive

but privatization is the only way

i remember  you posting about your old ikeja crib looking like  a mechanic garage with 4 generators  

@ debosky,  

u r damn right.

@ all,

Gas price to generating companies 'gencos' r ridiculously low hence d recent price review by d petroleum ministry of gas prices.

Equipment availability of transmission company 'transysco' is grossly inefficient wt uncomfortably high losses. Someplace quoted abt 40%.

Distribution companies r crime haven. Large fraction of received energy is unaccounted for.

Cost price below selling price will never attract any credible investment. Electricity is too underpriced  in Nigeria for her needs. Nepal generates at abt N14 and sells below N7, compare dt to other countries u can Google up. Wt generator its abt N45, according to energy commission of Nigeria.

It's only a criminal dt will come out in d open n antagonise deregulation of dt rotten sector like dt useless comrade.

1025:

@oyb,
do u see privatisation of all these sectors as a long term or short term measures? there is always a diminishing returns. what happens to the workers? what will be the implication of having 90% of our citizens unemployed?
with my little knowledge of economics, enterprenuers(those in private sector) have just one main objective and that is maximizing profits at the end of the day.
with these high levels of corruption in nigeria, do u know the level of risks we will incur in privatisation of electricity.
do u know how many sim cards i v bought and do u know how many internet morden i have bought. when u privatise any sector, u must make room for govt to monitor same otherwise chinese materials like we are seeing in all these telecommunication companies. their moden burn with ease bcs no market board.
electricity in the hands of corrupt nigerians will burn down this country in a short while in their quest to maximize profits.
if jonathan thinks he can't handle this problems, let him resign.
we can't have a skeletal govt that concentrates more on looting than the interests of the citizenry.
when all these things are left in the hand sof private ppl, our oil funds will be shared among the politicians and the masses will end up paying taxes to govt and private individuals and get nothing in returns.
IF I MAY ASK, AFTER PRIVATISING ALL THESE THINGS, WILL NIGERIANS STILL BE PAYING TAXES

phcn is no where near 90%  of the workforce

do u know how many sim cards i v bought and do u know how many internet morden i have bought. when u privatise any sector, u must make room for govt to monitor same otherwise chinese materials like we are seeing in all these telecommunication companies. their moden burn with ease bcs no market board.

eh? what chinese materials burning with ease? i have huawei and zte modems and they have NO issues. and these are teh same modems used all over the world. unles you are buying the so called universal modems which are not marketed by any telco.

there is a risk of the power privatization being hijacked by govt interests - that was what happened originally when abacha was selling gsm licenses piecemeal, but ob put a stop to that.  

IF I MAY ASK, AFTER PRIVATISING ALL THESE THINGS, WILL NIGERIANS STILL BE PAYING TAXES

americans pay 33% of their salaries as tax, and pay for power, gas, heating etal.

every business tries to maximize profits and that is where government oversight comes in. you should keep in mind though, that using substandard materials is not maximising profit, and no profit driven business is going to invest in 'chinese materials' that fail every three months and whose total cost is more than twice their original cost

@ debosky,

u r damn right.

@ all,

Gas price to generating companies 'gencos' r ridiculously low hence d recent price review by d petroleum ministry of gas prices.

Equipment availability of transmission company 'transysco' is grossly inefficient wt uncomfortably high losses. Someplace quoted abt 40%.

Distribution companies r crime haven. Large fraction of received energy is unaccounted for.

Cost price below selling price will never attract any credible investment. Electricity is too underpriced in Nigeria for her needs. Nepal generates at abt N14 and sells below N7, compare dt to other countries u can Google up. Wt generator its abt N45, according to energy commission of Nigeria.

It's only a criminal dt will come out in d open n antagonise deregulation of dt rotten sector like dt useless comrade.

@HOMERAC7,
if corruption is the reason for privatising the power sector, then aso rock shld be privatised the same time.
power sector is only one of all the corrupt sectors in nigeria. the nigerian police has failed in providing us with security that we need so much, why are we not privatising that? police is the most corrupt organisation in nigeria of which they stand on our roads and collect open bribes on daily basis and i expect us to privatise them. aso rock has failed in telling us what happened to our revenues since independence and i expect us to privatise them. corruption is a way of life in nigeria and it has come to stay because we always have number 1 citizens that are corrupt.
who among us nigerians will not be corrupt if he works with phcn? we have accepted corruption and the only thing we shld be doing now is to enshrine it into our constitution so that anyone who is not corrupt will face the music.
why will a senator earn over N15.9m a month and u expect others to die of hunger because nobody wants to pay them upto N20,000 monthly.
nigerians are hypocrites and that is why we are not progressing. we are partial and selective in our judgements.

@oyb,
i used mtn moden and it got spoilt despite poor services. only last month, zoom in VI told me my moden is bad and i resorted to buying a new one.
if u think the communication sector is ok, why are u having more than one moden in the house? it is only in crime infested countries like nigeria that ppl spend without calculations. i know many who have upto 4 or more modens in their house just like u have 3 generators in ur house. how normal is this idea. is moden surposed to be like glass cups or spoons?
nigerian govt needs to take charge of something and electricity is that one thing every nigerian needs most.
jonathan and pdp's corrupt practises are responsible for corruptions in all sectors.
how many ppl go to jail in nigeria? how will a bank md be discouraged from stealing if he sees what happened to cecilia ibru? are u saying if bode george is facing life imprisonment for corruption, others will not learn or will u let ur father go and steal like bode george. the truth of the matter is, if my father is there and not stealing until that bode george's judgement, i will officially ask him to start stealing or i will disown him.
na one politician u know in nigeria that is not corrupt.
i bought my first mtn line at N25,000 and that is privitisation for u today, buy one get one free. when u privatise, u take ur cut and let hell loose on the cosumers.
sometimes i pay for internet and will not have connection for 7 days out of my 30 days. is that what we call privatisation. i post trades sometimes and the connection will go leaving me to my own fate. do u know what nigerians are loosing to all these.
i am making a proposal that aso rock be privatised.

^^
guys, stop comparing telecoms with power.
In any case, let's not sweat this issue. I think the issue is not even with privatization or no privatization, that's moot. The issue is really with the long-term interests of current power sector stakeholders. There's a blueprint for sectoral reforms out there, and I think it will still take a while before it takes shape. As for PHCN workers, having seen what has happened to their NITEL counterparts, I can understand their paranoia. It's not going to be easy to move to a market economy, and it's up to the boffins in government to find a way to ease everybody into the transition.

oyb:

i remember  you posting about your old ikeja crib looking like  a mechanic garage with 4 generators  

Now down to 2 generators, since power has improved slightly over the last year

1025:

@HOMERAC7,
@oyb,
i used mtn moden and it got spoilt despite poor services. only last month, zoom in VI told me my moden is bad and i resorted to buying a new one.
if u think the communication sector is ok, why are u having more than one moden in the house? it is only in crime infested countries like nigeria that ppl spend without calculations. i know many who have upto 4 or more modens in their house just like u have 3 generators in your house. how normal is this idea. is moden surposed to be like glass cups or spoons?

That's strange. Anyway, the modems sold by GSM operators are all from China, and are a bit down on quality. Kind of like the chinese handsets you buy at Computer Village; you'll probably change them frequently.

1025:


@oyb,
i read with pains your points above and i was going to ask u if u have stolen my points. your pians are exactly mine and that of many nigerians. among everyother points of urs, i choose to discuss the one on quote above.
uncle, do u believe that it is only in nigeria that everybody know Mr. B as a kidnapper, an armed robber and all that, yet he is a free man. in nigeria, tony annenih, obj and host of other politicians are known to be fraudulent yet they are freemen. if u ask jonathan today, tomorrow or next, he will openly tell u that the major problem of nigeria is corrupt leaders. if u and i know and jonathan knows even the police knows that a particular man is a criminal, what are we waiting for.
mtn is boasting till tomorrow that nigeria has been their largest market since inception, why? bcs we are corrupt and anything to make money and settle the top shots goes. i bought an mtn fast link and paid subscription for a connect that takes 5 hrs to open a page and am sure millions of nigerians fall for the same trap - corperate fraud.
show me a written confirmation/guarrantee that if we privatise electricity today, it will become stable in nigeria.
there is a word in economics called subsidy. this is the role a FG in protecting the citizens of a country when it comes to the price of basic armenities.
are we not blessed that our wether is friendly? in dubai, electricity and airconditioners are not luxry but necessities. ppl die of heat and all that.
assuming we privatise this phcn, what will be the percentage of ppl who will afford this prices?
are u telling me that if our president is not corrupt, he will be friendly with a corrupt governor? as long as aso rock is corrupt, every sector including phcn will remain corrupt wether privatised or not.
if u happen to be a worker with phcn and u know that a senator goes home at the end of every month with N15.9m allowances not inclussive, will u be happy to be going home with N9,000?
obasanjo made our senators to over earn just for his selfish intentions of buying them over on third term.
we have water boardthat gets part of our yearly budgets but u and i know that they only exist on papers.
how can a country live and exist on privatised products and how is our aso rock a govt house and what responsibilities will be theirs.
our roads are privatised, our airlines are privatised,telecommunications is in the same lane, soon and i mean soon, nigerian police army and navy will all be privatised.
in all, as long as corruption is institutionalised in nigeria, privatisation of the air we breath will never be a solution.

The incompetence of our government is exactly why we need to get them out of operating businesses in Nigeria. Due to the excesses and largesse of our government during the oil boom of the 70's, we have all grown up with the concept that Government exists to give us roads, electricity, houses and put food on the table. Even in communism, government does cannot do all of these. And since we are supposed to be operating a capitalist economy, then these things are not supposed to be directly provided by government, but indirectly by providing an enabling environment for private enterprise to thrive.

We all point to UK,US, Germany etc, but in all these countries power, petrol, and in some cases roads are privatised, because as corrupt free as those countries generally are, even they have decided that these businesses are far more efficiently run by the private sector.

The labour unions will to argue that prices will rise, but has anyone accounted for the indirect costs of using generators? Like someone said the costs associated with unsteady power are difficult to account. There is the direct cost of buying a generator, then the cost of buying fuel and engine oil, then the cost of maintenance and servicing, the cost of spark plugs and batteries. Then u also have the health costs of noise and breathing in toxic fumes (most of these costs will come in later years by way of deafness and lung cancer/tuberculosis) not to talk of the cost of loosing a breadwinner who might die of carbon monoxide poisening. One also has to consider the mental costs of the anguish PHCN causes when they take light when Super Eagles is about to score or the costs of the depression  and frustration PHCN causes a housewife when she discovers that N6,000 worth of food she put in the freezer has gone bad because light has not been available all day while she was at work. By my estimate, the cost of running a 5Kva gen is about N45/Kwh. It is very unlikely that privatised tarrifs will exceed N25/Kwh.

As far as the poor go, about 50% of Nigeria live in the urban areas now and I doubt that there many people who don't at least have a "pass my neighbour", at least I have seen people staying in bacha's that use "pass my neighbour", and people who stay in bacha's are amongst the poorest city dwellers. Therefore if they can afford to use "pass my neighbour" with the high cost per Kwh, then it would still make more sense to them to pay for electricity at even N20/Kwh. people will pay for what is important to them and trust me stable elctricity is important to everybody and a survey has shown that Nigerians from all works of life are willing to pay higher for more stable electricity.

I have been saying it for some time now that our Unions are not looking out for the interests of you or me who don't directly belong to the Unions. They are only looking out for themselves. Eg Doctors somwhere in Nigeria went on warning strike because one of their members was kidnapped. Does that make sense!!!!! How will going on strike bring him back? Govt/Police can only try to find him, but the plenty jungle we have is not easy to search. Are people not abducted in America for 10-15 years before being found? Does it not happen elsewhere also??

Mr Adeyemi should go and sit down. Nigerians are 95% to 5% in support of privatisation of electricity supply. Even if it is expensive, I will cut down on other expenditure to pay for it. It might be a good way to get some people to stop drinking of smoking sef, if they have to cut doen to afford the electricity.

1025:

@HOMERAC7,
if corruption is the reason for privatising the power sector, then aso rock shld be privatised the same time.
power sector is only one of all the corrupt sectors in nigeria. the nigerian police has failed in providing us with security that we need so much, why are we not privatising that? police is the most corrupt organisation in nigeria of which they stand on our roads and collect open bribes on daily basis and i expect us to privatise them. aso rock has failed in telling us what happened to our revenues since independence and i expect us to privatise them. corruption is a way of life in nigeria and it has come to stay because we always have number 1 citizens that are corrupt.
who among us nigerians will not be corrupt if he works with phcn? we have accepted corruption and the only thing we shld be doing now is to enshrine it into our constitution so that anyone who is not corrupt will face the music.
why will a senator earn over N15.9m a month and u expect others to die of hunger because nobody wants to pay them upto N20,000 monthly.
nigerians are hypocrites and that is why we are not progressing. we are partial and selective in our judgements.

@oyb,
i used mtn moden and it got spoilt despite poor services. only last month, zoom in VI told me my moden is bad and i resorted to buying a new one.
if u think the communication sector is ok, why are u having more than one moden in the house? it is only in crime infested countries like nigeria that ppl spend without calculations. i know many who have upto 4 or more modens in their house just like u have 3 generators in your house. how normal is this idea. is moden surposed to be like glass cups or spoons?
nigerian govt needs to take charge of something and electricity is that one thing every nigerian needs most.
jonathan and pdp's corrupt practises are responsible for corruptions in all sectors.
how many ppl go to jail in nigeria? how will a bank md be discouraged from stealing if he sees what happened to cecilia ibru? are u saying if bode george is facing life imprisonment for corruption, others will not learn or will u let your father go and steal like bode george. the truth of the matter is, if my father is there and not stealing until that bode george's judgement, i will officially ask him to start stealing or i will disown him.
na one politician u know in nigeria that is not corrupt.
i bought my first mtn line at N25,000 and that is privitisation for u today, buy one get one free. when u privatise, u take your cut and let hell loose on the cosumers.
sometimes i pay for internet and will not have connection for 7 days out of my 30 days. is that what we call privatisation. i post trades sometimes and the connection will go leaving me to my own fate. do u know what nigerians are loosing to all these.
i am making a proposal that aso rock be privatised.

Certainly you can see that some of the problem with the telecommunication is the lack of competition which can also be attributed to the the bad business climate in Nigeria.

We have a government that should also ensure regulation of private companies' activities. I remember when MTN first started . . it was rumored that a percentage of every airtime bought went into OBJ's account. How do you expect them to function when the govt. that's supposed to be checkmating them is geeting a 'cut'?  

Despite these, there's no doubt that the telecommunication has greatly improved compared to how it was during the NITEL regime. Availability is the key here remember? The costs only comes in when it is available!

I pay 2k (non-negotiable) every month for PHCN light but I can count how many times I see the light!

The GSM thechnology is fairly recent in Nigeria and there's room for improvement everyday.

DapoBear:

Nah, looks pretty legit (minus my typo of MWH instead of MW.) Coal and natural gas prices have soared it appears, bumping up the price to like $2-3k per KW:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/business/worldbusiness/10energy.html?_r=1

So $2 or $3 per watt, 40K MW, , roughly $100 billion seems reasonable.

I strongly dislike this 10 year plan the article has in mind, that is too pessimistic and slow.

If you empower the state of Lagos to provide electricity for itself and charge market rates, I think they can do it in 3 or 4 years. They already have an IPP project (http://www.aes.com/aes/index?page=country&cat=NG) that generates 270 MW through 9 gas-power barges (7% of the nation's supply.)

Not quite clear how much this can be scaled up (perhaps for technical reasons one cannot go from 9 barges to 40 or 50 barges), but at least in theory I really think that Lagos could supply all of its own power needs (other states might have difficulty getting foreign investors to supply the billions in capital required, Lagos on the other hand doesn't have this type of problem.)

That is, assuming that Lagos could charge its citizens fair value (or slightly above) for the electricity generation. Unfortunately, due to moronic federal government policies, Lagos (or any other state) is not allowed to do this. . .

Debosky beat me to it. 100billion for 40000MW makes absolutely no sense.

if u think the communication sector is ok, why are u having more than one moden in the house?

eh? you think my having more than one modem is driven by communication sector being ok?

simple maths

i use starcomms and it is  cheaper in the long run to have two modems 9am-9pm (7k) 9pm - 9am (5k) rather than a 24 hr connection (15k) i have an unlocked mtn modem whic is faat but mtn is not for me because of their download limit.

my three generators are also driven by economics - 5kva to carry iron and borehole, 2.2 kva for normal operations, 1 kva from 12 am to 7 am .  



with all your bitterness over privatisation, can you claim that Communism or socialism is much better. can you claim that an unprivatized nitel  is better than what we have today? is there any state run buiness that is not failing? you want to continue like that?

Some useful and insightful reading. You may not necessarily agree with it though.

http://wayforwardnaija..com/2010/07/nlc-and-labour-unions-always-in-our.html


http://wayforwardnaija..com/2009/04/nigeria-plc.html

Happy reading.

@ Uju, he is saying the same thing:what is making me not to get millionaire's daughters? Equality dis day and forever! No dulling, move with the moneybags like u and keep the money expanded.

Please let that man keep quite cos we need privatisation in the power sector the govt has failed and will continue to fail it is a huge projest and highly capital intensive, far beyound what the govt can manage.
we are ready to pay a higher tarrif provided we enjoy value for money as we are enjoying telecommunication services an example to follow.
to hell with NEPA , PHCN and every associates of the govt that surrounds power.

[b]Let us a a hitch free privatisation, we have spoken

My people, can any one tell me what concerns the labour leader with energy privatization? Afterall, the government is not saying they are going to retrench the inefficient real and ghost workers of the national energy parastatals. Or have I overheard anything? Adeyemi, ojo egunje e maa to tan o.

Let there be light jare!

pay a higher tarrif provided we enjoy value for money as we are enjoying telecommunication services an example

I admit that telecomunications has really impoved in Nigeria. Nevertheless, I do not agree that you are getting enough value for your money. The damn networks are over congested and the network providers are overcharging and ripping the people off. I hope when the energy palaver is resolved, that you will get real value for your money.

okooyinbo:

I admit that telecomunications has really impoved in Nigeria. Nevertheless, I do not agree that you are getting enough value for your money. The damn networks are over congested and the network providers are overcharging and ripping the people off. I hope when the energy palaver is resolved, that you will get real value for your money.

Quite right that we are not getting enough value for money right now, but everything is a process. At least in the telecoms sector we are are moving swiftly in the right direction, unlike power where we are barely moving at all, and we are not even sure of the direction. Part of the reason why our Networks are so congested is because the pent up demand for phones was so huge that we have almost 80million people using the GSM networks as their PRIMARY and ONLY phone. In most other countries, even in SA, land lines are still very relevant and carry a lot of traffic. Everywhere else I go abroad, people use their mobiles only when on the move. When they are home they generally use land lines because it's cheaper, on the other hand because over here land lines don't even exist, we use mobile phones ALL the time adding to "unnecessary" congestion. Besides, we actually talk too much in this country, jeez!!! In the London underground, people are generally quiet, just bring that here, you will see noise!!

Once power situation is arrested or improved upon, every other thing will be falling into place. But our biggest problem is staring at us ALL.

Expecting people like Mr Adeyemi to support electricity privatisation in Nigeria is like expecting turkeys to vote for Christmas.    Nigeria is nothing but a collection of vested interests with everybody fighting their corner without any regard for the interests of the common man.   To those who are for and against privatisation, I will pose this simple question:

If you are paying 2000 naira a month in estimated bills for electricity which you receive for an average of 3 hrs every day and someone comes along and says he will supply you the electricity 24/7 at  10,000 naira a month, which would you prefer?  

(Come on, don't tell me you can't multiply and divide  because you skipped maths classes at secondary school)

In the London underground, people are generally quiet, just bring that here, you will see noise!!

, because it is their way over here. If an African is made to keep quiet, he may die pre-prematurely. Dont bring that to nigeria at all. It is a loud country. Well, I generally do not mind bringing down the level of noise polution in Nigeria really. However, me do not think it is the people using their phone in the "underground Bolekaja" that is causing so much noise. Its rather the churches and the mosques and the cars and the buses,

I support privatization all the way. I even have a very sound formula on how to go about privatizing the energy sector. If any one cares, "dieser in Deutschland ausgebildete Ökonom" would gladly help build a sound energy sector in Nigeria. I am not after the "egunje" sha o.


BTW, what is the meaning of "pass my neighbour"?

Kulutempa, make you go kulu tempa o. Why you want use Aritimetiki spoil my head? I no be small pikan now. I don leave skul, him don tey. I no sabi divide and ruler again o.

okooyinbo:

, BTW, what is the meaning of "pass my neighbour"?

hahaha, "pass my neighbour" is the tiniest generator that gives just about 700watts

Privatisation is not the solution to everything. Somethings are meant for the government to run simply because the cost of building and maintaing fixed infrastructure is enormous. It will kill an average citizen to pay for the cost of such services.
Why do you think there are over 50 Million people in US without healthcare, why do you think healthcare cost there is killing their budget, because it is semi demi privatised that is why? Somethings must be facilitated by the government. Power is one of it, It doesn't have to be totally run by the goverment, some other aspects can be privatised.

Railway transportation for example. The rails are owned by the goverment in Canada and UK, the trains and networks can be operated by private companies. Fixed Infrastructure is the govt's business period. If we privatise this, the gap between rich and poor in nigeria will become extreme, because private companies are there to make money not to protect the massess.

okooyinbo:

Kulutempa, make you go kulu tempa o. Why you want use Aritimetiki spoil my head? I no be small pikan now. I don leave skul, him don tey. I no sabi divide and ruler again o.

Your parents warned you, your teachers warned you, but you did not listen.  See yourself now.

i pass my neighbour is slang for the smallest model of generator btw 650-800watts depending on manufacturer.

these are some of te most ubiquitous generators in lagos, as every small business(barber, buka etal  has one)

yodiyokun:

Privatisation is not the solution to everything. Somethings are meant for the government to run simply because the cost of building and maintaing fixed infrastructure is enormous. It will kill an average citizen to pay for the cost of such services.
Why do you think there are over 50 Million people in US without healthcare,  why do you think healthcare cost there is killing their budget, because it is semi demi privatised that is why? Somethings must be facilitated by the government. Power is one of it, It doesn't have to be totally run by the goverment, some other aspects can be privatised.

Railway transportation for example. The rails are owned by the goverment in Canada and UK,  the trains and networks can be operated by private companies. Fixed Infrastructure is the govt's business period. If we privatise this,  the gap between rich and poor in nigeria will become extreme, because private companies are there to make money not to protect the massess.

People said the same thing about telecoms.  At the end of the day the Nigerian government has shown itself over the past 40 years to be incapable of providing regular electricity supply for Nigerians.  So do we  let things remain the way they are because the government can't do it?   The thing with privatisation is that it brings competition and in time that leads to lower prices for end users.   That is what we are now getting with the recent cut price call rate by Bharti Airtel.  It's all a matter of time.

yodiyokun:

Privatisation is not the solution to everything. Somethings are meant for the government to run simply because the cost of building and maintaing fixed infrastructure is enormous. It will kill an average citizen to pay for the cost of such services.
Why do you think there are over 50 Million people in US without healthcare,  why do you think healthcare cost there is killing their budget, because it is semi demi privatised that is why? Somethings must be facilitated by the government. Power is one of it, It doesn't have to be totally run by the goverment, some other aspects can be privatised.

Railway transportation for example. The rails are owned by the goverment in Canada and UK,  the trains and networks can be operated by private companies. Fixed Infrastructure is the govt's business period. If we privatise this,  the gap between rich and poor in nigeria will become extreme, because private companies are there to make money not to protect the massess.

How long has electricity been run by the government? How many time a month or even week have we had constant and stable electricity? From the time I was born till now, NEVER.[size=5pt](I'm not that old by the way )[/size]
Was telecommunication in Nigeria not in a state before it was privatised?
Also, the rail network in England is privatised. Go check it out. Only the NHS is not privatised and maybe some other areas,
Besides, you can't compare the UK and USA with Nigeria. Even though the government is corrupt to a level there, they still have their citizens well being in mind. In Nigeria, does the government give a damn about us? NO!
Lets not decieve ourselves and compare ourselves with other nations that have their government running things. We've got to be real and face the truth. Privatisation is the way forward in circumstances like ours,

yodiyokun:

Privatisation is not the solution to everything. Somethings are meant for the government to run simply because the cost of building and maintaing fixed infrastructure is enormous. It will kill an average citizen to pay for the cost of such services.
Why do you think there are over 50 Million people in US without healthcare, why do you think healthcare cost there is killing their budget, because it is semi demi privatised that is why? Somethings must be facilitated by the government. Power is one of it, It doesn't have to be totally run by the goverment, some other aspects can be privatised.

Railway transportation for example. The rails are owned by the goverment in Canada and UK, the trains and networks can be operated by private companies. Fixed Infrastructure is the govt's business period. If we privatise this, the gap between rich and poor in nigeria will become extreme, because private companies are there to make money not to protect the massess.

No doubt, privatisation is not the solution to everything, but since our government has ben proven since 1980 not to be able to efficiently run ANYTHING, we have been left with no choice but to find those who ill have astake in ensuring it is well run.

It is a real pity that once again his interests and those of his constituents have been placed above that of the majority of us long suffering Nigerians. Who is afraid of privatization I wonder. We have heard these scare mongering theories from self styled socialists for too long. If he was around before the death of NITEL I would be posting from the local government headquarters because internet services at my local post office are out of order. (This actually once happened to me.) My friends are we not paying enough for electricity already to remain afloat and alive. What can be more capitalist than that. When our petrol or diesel runs out do we not shut down and go to bed? Where is NEPA or PHPDP then.

They say electrical infrastructure is different from that of telecoms. It is difficult, it is impossible. But tell me what can be more expensive to an individual that providing his own electricity infrastructure and paying to run it which is happening daily. I have just come off an allied project where the sum of 20 million has been spent to provide power to a particular facility. This is external mains - poles, conductors and transformer only. And guess how much NEPA is asking to energise the line (as if it is not their responsibility or in their business interest to provide such infrastructure). Irritating isn’t it. And guess where the high tension cable links – a nearby military barracks for reasonably stable power. More irritation. (Topic for another day). A close friend who works for a multi-national once told me they paid NEPA an annual fee of approximately 60 million for unstable power supply and expend a further  – wait for it – 165 million (Abacha time naira) to stabilize the power. They have storage facilities that can take one million litres of gas. Tankers are regular features at their gates. Now this company is not located in some distant village, village ke. In fact it is located in Abuja, five keys from the three-arm zone. It is that bad. Thankfully somehow they are still in business – but at how much cost to us.

By the way I could remember visiting their radio room (the size of a small flat) then, grateful for the call and cursing NITEL as well. Now tell me if you tell these fellows that a new power company cannot provide infrastructure for their business they will simply laugh. My friends let these scaremongers not cower us with stories that because it took the government decades and cost billions it is impossible. I could remember reports then projecting something like fifteen years for PTO’s to catch up to NITEL. How will they lay cables, how will they find money, how will they recover investment, bla, bla. Well, ten years down the line the entire nation is covered by fibre optics and GLO has laid a submarine line to Europe and PTO capacity is forty times that of NITEL who has been in business since before independence. Shame on them. I bet if NITEL was asked to lay a sub-cable to Cotonou they will squander trillions, it will probably be abandoned and billionaires will be made overnight. Infact military men will be falling over themselves on who gets to take over government because of it. Corruption cake. Or are the bells of Siemens and Haliburton not still ringing (by the way is Dick Cheney going to be extradited to Nigeria – topic for another day).

Power infrastructure is not too difficult nor impossible. Telecoms has shown us that the private sector has the technology and can muster the resources to quad the capacity of NEKPA in a just a few years. As for tariffs competition will handle that. It will stimulate positive thinking. Who can get cheaper financing, cheaper gas, cheaper equipment, who has the better environmental plan, who can negotiate better with communities. Etc.

Leave them, nonsense, selfish dinosaurs.

See how bad it is, very bad. I tell you as I type power has gone off twice now (in ten minutes). My UPS is rattling. If it isn’t for personal investments in backups and storage. Mtchewww. Useless people.

oyb:



i pass my neighbour is slang for the smallest model of generator btw 650-800watts depending on manufacturer.

these are some of te most ubiquitous generators in lagos, as every small business(barber, buka etal has one)

Bia oyb, you sure say no be my generator be that?

Privatization

Comrade is working for those people that has been gaining from our continued blackout in the country, you know some nigerians are so selfish.

stupid comrade! we had never had light under our government. Am sure the comrade can afford a generator and wants to be the only big man in his neighbourhood. yeye dey smell.