ASSESSMENT OF PRIVATISATION AND COMMERCIALISATION OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIAN ABUJA ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANY (AEDC)

Dogo Samuel^* And ² Dogo Bitrus Ajeye (PhD)

ABSTRACT

Privatization and commercialization of Public Enterprises is believed to be a vital tool for the upliftment of a country’s telecommunication sector, more especially the developing countries like Nigeria. Regrettably, the problems facing this commercialization program of the power sector are too numerous to mention: corruption, lack of transparency, inconsistency and incredibility to mention just a few. The incessant erratic power supply and its antecedent problems evoke this research work. This study therefore investigated effect of privatization and commercialization on the performance of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company. Four hundred community indigenes were sampled from Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The study adopted survey research design. A self-constructed questionnaire was used for the study Data collected were analyzed using SPSS 26 for the descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that privatization and commercialization influence the performance of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company. Also, since privatization of the services of AEDC have improved quality of service delivery to customers, people now enjoy regular supply of electricity and other services such as effective regulation of tariffs and quality service, prompt response to faults and customers’ complaint by AEDC staff now than before, low shading of power supply/distribution has drastically been minimized in FCT. It was recommended among others that government should endeavor to win over labour’s acceptance of privatization by giving them ownership of shares in the enterprises, interaction with the unions as stakeholders is often a good strategy, strategic administrative re-engineering to enable electrical authority staff members interacts extensively with stakeholders in the exercise especially the staff and consultants of bidding firms, transparency and accountability by the government and enabled credibility in consistency and communication among AEDC officials.

Key Words: Privatization, Commercialization, Electricity, Distribution, Abuja.