Federal Government moves to enforce performance agreements five years after $2.5bn investment pledge…
The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has granted approval to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to begin monitoring Transcorp Power Consortium’s compliance with the performance agreements (PAs) governing the sale of Afam Power Plc and Afam Three Fast Power Limited.
The performance agreements outline the obligations of both parties in the post-acquisition phase. The new oversight move comes exactly five years after Transcorp acquired the Afam power assets in 2020.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, the approval is intended to “regularise outstanding conditions and operational targets” tied to the acquisition, ensuring the sustained commercial viability of the Afam power complex.
Nkwocha said the decision followed a memo presented to the Council by Ayodeji Gbeleyi, Director-General of the BPE, during the NCP’s third meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Transcorp Power Consortium purchased the 966MW Afam Electricity Generation Company (GenCo) in November 2020 for N105 billion after a bidding process involving 12 firms. The deal came months after Transcorp Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, pledged in 2019 to invest up to $2.5 billion in Nigeria’s power sector.
Gbeleyi confirmed that the federal government had completed the full handover of the Afam assets to Transcorp, adding that N53.9 billion had been realised as privatisation proceeds. He also noted that the transaction was restructured earlier this year, paving the way for the execution of the performance agreements.
“With the PAs now signed, the BPE can commence mandatory post-privatisation monitoring of the core investor’s performance obligations,” he said.
The NCP also reviewed its 2025 performance as well as the activities of the BPE, including the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). Gbeleyi highlighted that the split created two new entities, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) and the Transmission Service Provider as part of ongoing sector reforms.
Vice President Kashim Shettima, who chairs the Council, called for a fundamental shift in the nation’s privatisation strategy. He said Nigeria must move beyond “simply selling state-owned enterprises” to a broader framework of asset optimisation capable of supporting the administration’s trillion-dollar economic ambition.
He stressed that the NCP must act as “the economic compass” guiding national investments and policy choices, warning that without strategic reforms, Nigeria’s growth projections would remain theoretical.
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