BPE, Foreign Firm Collaborate On Investment Opportunities In Nigeria

Director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) Alex Okoh has said the BPE will collaborate with Jindal Steel & Power Group (a leading world player in Steel, Mines and Infrastructure) in its areas of interest to invest in Nigeria.

Consequently, a joint committee to work out the modalities for the exercise has been set up with the director, Industries and Services at the BPE, Mr. Yunana Jackdel Malo heading the BPE’s team while Mr. Mukesh Sharma will head the Jindal Steel & Power Group’s team.

Speaking when he received a delegation from the group, led by its vice chairman, Mr V. R. Sharma, which was on a courtesy visit to the Bureau on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, Okoh said there were a lot of potentials in the country in areas of interest for the group.

He cited among others, the planned concession of the Zungeru power plant which has the capacity to generate about 700 megawatts when operational and said that already, the federal government had procured the services of a transaction adviser for its eventual concession.

The irdector-general revealed that the planned concession of the Zungeru dam would be modelled after that of Kainji and Jebba dams’ concession and that the successful concessionaire would handle it for a period of 30 years.

On another area of interest for the group(steel), Okoh noted that though the three Steel Rolling Companies in the country-Jos, Katsina and Osogbo had been privatised, they were not living up to expectation and that any effort to rev up the sector would be supported.

He also informed the investors that power which is their main strong hold, has openings in the country as the federal gvernment was at the verge of privatising five of its ten National Integrated Power Plants (NIPPs) which have the combined capacity to generate between 2,300-2,500 megawatts.

On the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Okoh said despite the unbundling of the power sector by the government in 2013, resulting into 11 power distribution companies and six generation companies, TCN was still being retained by the federal government but that plans were underway to unbundle it for more efficiency.

Earlier, Mr Sharma said the courtesy visit was to afford the group the opportunity to have firsthand information on areas of investment in Nigeria.

He said Nigeria was the largest economy in Africa which his group intends to cash in on the vast potentials to invest in mines, hydro power and other areas of interest.