20100823
reuters

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria is seeking bidders for 11 electricity distribution firms in deals that could unlock billions of dollars of foreign investment and help end chronic power shortages, the privatisation agency said on Monday.

The Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) said the country's privatisation council last week approved the search for core investors for the firms, which currently operate under the umbrella of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

Nigeria is Africa's biggest crude oil and gas producer but is plagued by chronic power shortages, leaving its 140 million people without reliable mains electricity and its businesses reliant on expensive diesel generators.

"Under the proposed privatisation strategy for distribution companies, a private sector operator will acquire controlling equity interest in any of the distribution companies with a view to rapidly improving its operational efficiency," the BPE said.

Bidders will have to submit estimates of how much they could improve efficiency over a five-year period, it said.

Successive governments including that of President Goodluck Jonathan have made resolution of the power crisis a priority, but progress has been painfully slow, hampered partly by vested interests including generator companies and diesel distributors.

The crisis has been a major brake on growth in sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy.

Solving the problems at PHCN are key to attracting independent power producers to Nigeria.