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Friday, March 29, 2024

Electricity In Nigeria; A Case Of Worsening Horror – By Tope Adesipo

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Months after the  fraud called privatization, Nigeria’s Jonathan’s government,its apologist ,optimst and its big business partners cannot justify the privatization of the electricity utility company, PHCN to private sharks.  there seems to be no end in sight. Power generated by Nigeria’s power plants has declined from 4517 MW in December 2012 to 3000MW at the moment; a  In fact, by January 27, 2014, seven of the 11 power plants have shut down completely or almost completely (Punch, 29/01/2014) due to lack of capacity of the private owners to maintain and manage the plants. This has led to practical blackout for most part of the country for weeks
Goodluck-Jonathan-nigeria-president-pensive
According to the Punch, these shutdowns were as a result of the technical collapse of some of the plants due to poor maintenance and obsolete parts, in addition to shortage of gas to the gas-powered plants, either due to inability of private plants owners to pay for gas, or due to vandalism of gas pipeline,  Consequently, power outages and power shedding have become the norm for most Nigerian households. Meanwhile this has not stopped the astronomical bills that are dished out to Nigerians. In fact, the exploitation has increased, as the distribution companies have increased charges
pockets of protests are breaking out already in some part of the country against the horrible situation the privatization has thrown the working and poor people into. These pockets of protests will increase in the coming period, and may gain a national echo With the ways things are going, it is not impossible that electricity crisis may trigger the next Nigerian uprising.
 Between 1979 and 2005 no single power plant was built by successive government in Nigeria and huge amount of money was committed to this In 2005,  Obasanjo regime tried to build some new power plants, but it was clear that it was to become another conduit pipe for massive looting of public wealth. While over $10 billion was committed to building new power plants, less than 700 MW of electricity have been added to the national grid. it is sad that despite the enormous wealth acured to the country,the country’s electricity supply has not left its colonial height.
  The Nigeria ruling class deliberately posses a ruinous character  most of the power plants were situated far away from the fuel sources, while other have become mere monuments because there was no provision for their powering, fuelling and integration into the national grid! In fact, according to Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, the country could not even harness the generated power, even if all the so-called new power plants were working, because the transmission and distributing infrastructures are not just there. Yet, since 1999, well over $20 billion has been committed to the power sector by various governments! Using the World Energy Outlook 2010 estimate, this wasted money (over $20 billion) is more than a quarter of what is needed to provide universal and permanent access to electricity for all Nigerians, yet more than 130 million Nigerians do not have access to electricity in the 21st century. Indeed, less than 15 percent of over $500billion the country has earned since 1999 will provide universal access to electricity for all Nigerians. According to a report in the Vanguard newspaper (2/01/2014), quoting a representative of a Western oil consultancy firm, Nigeria wasted 1.1 million cubic feet of gas daily, which can provide electricity for 20 million houses, while the flared gas in the Niger Delta is enough to power “African continent and beyond”.
its a shame that successive government in nigeria could not generate enough electricity that can power Lagos.  ofcourse, over the years the ruinous character of the ruling elite in Nigeria is primarily responsible for the state of electricity in the country, from the first day, it was clear that the power privatization, aside being a fraud, would fail, as the so-called investors do not have the technical and financial resources to run any part of the behemoth called PHCN.
infact to lay credence to the fraud perpetrated is the revelation by the Power Minister, Chinedu Nebo during an interview recently, to the effect that the power plants were sold at rock bottom prices to the so-called investors. Yet, the ‘investors’ could only and of course reluctantly raise the money to buy the electricity companies through loans from banks!
According to the International Energy Association (IEA) 2010 Report around $6.1 billion (about N1 trillion) is needed in investment annually for the next ten years to provide electricity for all Nigeria. Where will the private companies that could not even maintain the staffs they met on ground mobilize the resources to do all this? While generating companies (Gencos) have found it difficult to pay for gas to power the plants and replace obsolete parts of plants, the distribution companies, with active connivance of the government, have cut their staff strength to the marrow, thus rendering the companies ineffective, as able technical hands have been reduced drastically.
The case of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is not different. Aside the chronic shortage of transmission facilities, the Canadian technical manager, Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) employed by the government on a $24 million management contracts, has failed woefully to make any meaningful improvement to the transmission of electricity. The situation was so terrible that the Power Minister, Nebo at the inauguration of TCN management board, was forced to voice out government’s frustration on the failure of MHI. In fact, he threatened to terminate the contract with MHI, whose competence to run TCN he noted was “overhyped” (Guardian 07/01/2014).
  As the Gencos could not generate electricity, so the Discos could not distribute, while the TCN is lost on how to transmit even the little generated. Worse still, the situation seems not to have any chance of improving as the government and the private ‘investors’ are clueless about the situation.Anarchy is currently the rule in the power sector Not even the June deadline given to the private ‘investors’ will work. This deadline has been rejected by the ‘investors’, while the Minister has been subsequently forced to reverse himself.
Federal government itself, in realization of the permanent failure of privatization, budgeted close to N836.6 million for fueling and maintaining generators in government offices for 2014! Yet, the fate of Nigerians has been handed over to these jokers While power supply is poor, the bills have gone up. Local and state governments have found ready excuse to avoid ameliorating the problems faced by Nigerians. For instance, many state and local governments e.g. Lagos State, have abandoned any plan to procure transformers and other infrastructures for communities, under the guise that they cannot be doing the work for private companies.
All of these have confirmed the believe that  privatization of electricity could only bring more woes to already suffering Nigerians.  only democratic management of the electricity and power sector by elected representatives of workers, consumers, communities and relevant professional groups, coupled with massive funding of the sector, will ensure adequate and constant supply of electricity to Nigerians. It is only on this basis that electricity can have a long-term plan of serving as tool for national development.

Tope Adesipo (immediate past president of the federal university of agriculture Abeokuta Student Union Government) @tope414 on twitter

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