The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has announced plans to privatise 91 companies to achieve optimal performance, greater revenue generation, and job creation.
The Director General of the agency, Mr. Ayodeji A. Gbeleyi, who made the disclosure on Tuesday during a media briefing in Abuja, also said that two Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) and one generation company (GenCo) have been listed for the Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
He, however, did not disclose the companies or the amount to be generated from the exercise.
According to him, that would be determined in the course of the exercise.
The DG added that the power sector has the potential to be a good candidate for an IPO on the Nigerian exchange, and that the agency is currently working on it.
“On the IPOs of potential DisCos and GenCo, at this stage, because of transaction confidentiality, we are not in a position to disclose two out of the 11 DisCos.
“We are also unable to disclose the GenCo that is the target for confidentiality, and to avoid causing anxiety or concern, whether among labour, workers, or the wider society,” he said.
Regarding the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), the DG reiterated that 23 power plants are connected to the national grid, and in most cases, as many as five could be put out of operation due to several constraints, including gas, transmission, vandalism, and illiquidity in the sector.
“The BPE is yet to state the criteria for seeking shareholders for the unmentioned assets, making it pretty difficult to guess the ones in question,” he said.
Gbeleyi, who took the time to outline the reforms under the present administration, added that shareholders’ loan agreements were recently executed for 10 out of the 11 DisCos. According to him, the disbursement of the loan would begin soon.
Concerning the privatisation of five GenCos, the DG informed that the transaction has been put on hold due to exchange rate volatility and other factors.
“The transaction is held in abeyance. It was in the middle of the transaction that we recorded a massive exchange volatility.
“When the transaction started in 2021, official exchange rate was around N450, but as of last year, the exchange rate was averaging N1,600 to a dollar. Today, it is N1575.
“So, the fundamentals of the transaction changed along the line, but government is still keeping an eye on it,” the DG said.
He, however, frowned that the GenCos have not keyed into the eligible customer regulation because of transmission challenges.
“Eligible customer will also need transmission capability. If you produce power in Zungeru and need to sell it in Egbin Power, there will be transmission infrastructure available for you to dispatch your power.
“It is not just about the eligibility of customers, but you must also ensure that you have the wheeling infrastructure to deliver that power to that eligible customer.”
The DG further revealed that core investors of four DisCos remained intact while seven have been restructured, stressing that the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) led to the creation of the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) to promote market independence and efficiency.
Concerning metering, he noted that, as of March 31, 2025, the industry had 6,468,036 meter installations, up from the 403,255 meters recorded in 2013.
According to him, 3.2 million meters came from the $500 million Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP), while 2.5 million meters were from the Presidential Metering Initiative.