- It is soul-lifting that manufacturers have indicated interest in the stranded electricity
Manufacturers in the country have every reason to jump at the 2,000MW stranded power produced by the generation companies (Gencos) but which the distribution companies (Discos) lack the capacity to distribute. This is not palatable to the Discos, which threatened force majeure, in November, last year, when the Federal Government came up with the idea of making eligible customers buy power directly from the GenCos. Yet, they do not have the capacity to absorb the 2,000MW of electricity. We cannot continue to waste such huge resources in a power-hungry country like ours. It therefore should be good news to hear that manufacturers are ready to pick up the stranded electricity.
The manufacturers, under the auspices of their umbrella body, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), bared their mind at a meeting organised by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, last week, in Abuja. MAN’s president, Dr. Frank Jacobs, told the minister that: “It (eligible customers’ policy) is a welcome development. We have been complaining about power as one of the infrastructure impeding our progress as manufacturers, and when we heard about the government coming up with the eligible customer guidelines, we thought it was a wonderful idea.
“This is because at present, we know that 2,000MW of electricity is stranded and not utilised because the Discos couldn’t buy it. The power is wasting away while we need it. This is an opportunity for us to key in and take that 2,000MW that is wasting.”
It is indeed an opportunity that the manufacturers should seize with both hands. No government properly so-called would fold its arms and watch 2,000MW of electricity wasted when there are people who could take it up and use it for productive purposes. Presently, MAN’s daily demand for electricity is about 14, 882MW, far above the 7,000MW that the nation generates in the best of times. This means that even if the whole 7,000 is pooled together for the manufacturers alone, it is still far below their daily requirement for power.
“MAN members alone consume 14,882MW per day, and this we cannot get from the grid. Most of them are self-generated. We believe that this eligible customer initiative will make it possible for us to get some of the power that is wasted and convert to our own use.
“Definitely, MAN’s consumption is 14,882MW every day. We are hoping that this 2,000MW will help to augment; it won’t give us all that we need,” Jacobs restated. We do not see any reason why any right-thinking person or organisation would object to this patriotic idea. Nigeria is in dire need of industrialisation. And we cannot industrialise without uninterrupted power supply. The same way it is difficult to witness any significant growth in the manufacturing sector if industries keep running on generators. We have lost count of the number of companies that were hitherto doing well in the country that have folded up and or relocated to countries with a more conducive business environment. This should not be allowed to continue.
As a matter of fact, if the power requirement of the country’s manufacturing sector is 14,882MW daily, it tells us that we are still a long way from industrial el-dorado. We can only know how little we are in this regard if we compare power consumption in other countries with far less population than Nigeria, with ours. For instance, South Africa, with about 60 million population generates about 40,000MW daily. This merely tells us how far lack of stable power supply has hobbled industrialisation in Nigeria. Things will improve dramatically in the industrial sector when we get the power mix right. And this will come with a lot of multiplier effects that will lift the economy.
So, we urge the Federal Government to go ahead with the eligible customer policy so that those who need the stranded electricity can take advantage of it and stop the power haemorrhage. We should not allow the Discos to hold us to ransom, the same way multinational oil companies are flaring gas in the energy sector when such could be converted to more valuable uses.
