By Luminous Jannamike

Abuja—THE Coalition of 52 Northern Groups, CNG, has rejected plans by the Federal Government to sell five National Integrated Power Plants, NIPPs, to private sector operators.

The plants are: Benin Generation Company Limited at Ihovba, Edo State; Calabar Generation Company Limited, Cross River State; Geregu Generation Company Limited, Kogi State; Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited, Ogun State; and Omotosho Generation Company Limited, Ondo State.

CNG’s Director, Strategic Communication, Samaila Musa, in a statement issued in Abuja, said, “We are alarmed by the insistence of Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to push the plan by the National Council on Privatisation and the Bureau of Public Enterprise to sell the Ihovba, Calabar, Geregu, Olorunsogo, and Omotosho power plants.

“We had alerted of a grand conspiracy by powerful interests  to sell these assets and further diminish the economic viability of the northern region.

“Particularly disturbing is that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, assets such as these ones have greatly lost value and would only be sold at a great national loss.

“The CNG, insists that the power plants’ equity through NIPPs is owned by the states and the LGAs alongside the Federal Government, which was designed and implemented in the South and eventually to be replicated in the North.

“We reject in its totality any such plan to dispose off the plants without replicating same in the North as per the initial agreement.

“The CNG also demands for the Northern versions of the plants to be immediately established as agreed in 2004 when NIPPs were established.

“We further demand that Northern federal lawmakers stand firmly against this attempt at mortgaging the future of the North. Northern governors must also demand that their States’ equity would not be plundered.

“We, therefore, condemn with all our might, this blatant illegality, unconstitutionality and abuse of office by the supposedly learned professional such as the vice president.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the CNG is prepared to go to any length to challenge this cruel, unfriendly, greatly biased and irresponsible policy.”