SENIOR officials of Nigeria’s ailing state-run electricity firm Nepa are in South Africa to study that country’s more efficient power-generating sector, a press report said on Sunday. The National Electric Power Authority (Nepa) produces between 2 000 and 4 000 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria’s 120-million people, less than a tenth of what is produced in South Africa for a population one-third the size. Nepa managing director Joseph Makoju said four company officials had gone to South Africa in attempt to learn how to improve the service in Nigeria, the Guardian newspaper reported. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo last year described Nepa as ”rotten, inefficient and destructive,” and promised to commence a phased sell-off of the company this year. He said Nepa will be broken up into generating, distribution and retail units which will be managed by a new regulatory commission to be set up in the middle of the year. – Sapa
Friday March 22, 2002