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By Linda Eroke

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Wednesday frowned at the closure of the bid process for the sale of companies created from the  unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), saying it is an attempt to deprive genuine Nigerian investors and their companies the opportunity to invest in the designated companies.

The union argued that the hurried closure of the sale of the PHCN companies by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is not in the best interest of the power sector reforms in which a lot of funds had already been committed.

The union, in a statement issued by its Acting Secretary, Mr. Isaac Aberare, called on the Federal Government to prevail on the BPE and the power ministry to extend the date in order to allow other interested parties and Nigeria investors participate in the bidding.

This, the union said will allow the transformational agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration on power to be more transparent and workable.

“NUPENG protests the untimely closure of the bidding process for the companies in the power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

“The union believes that the closure of the bids is to allow the cronies and fronts of the powers-that-be to buy up the PHCN companies at ridiculous prices.

“NUPENG calls on the Federal Government to intervene quickly in the closure of the bidding by prevailing on the BPE and the Federal Ministry of Power for an extension of time to allow other interested parties and Nigeria investors to participate in the bidding.

“We warn that the failure of BPE’s sale of NITEL, Daily Times that is still a mirage today, should not be allowed to happen to the power sector.

“We therefore urge the Federal Government to call BPE to order and request it to extend the date of the bidding of the sale of the PHCN firms so that other Nigerians and their companies can participate in the bidding,” the statement added.