- We need to diversify sources of power generation
Former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi, in a recent interview x-rayed Nigeria’s power sector challenges and made suggestions on the way forward. He made several points which cannot be dismissed, but perhaps one of the most fascinating was what he called the Federal Government’s overselling the ability of the private sector to revamp the ailing sector. In other words, privatise and other things would follow. It is now seven years since the power sector was privatised and we are yet to get out of the power conundrum. It is now clear that privatisation in itself cannot guarantee regular power supply. This is why the experience of the telecommunications sector cannot be reenacted in the power sector.
But because government saw the idea as the needed elixir in the moribund sector, it was in a hurry to get through with the process such that certain things which were supposed to be done were either not done or hastily done. For instance, as Amadi noted in the interview, Terms of Reference were compromised, thus leading to reduction in the financial and technical capabilities of the buyers. This ought not be so. Moreover, the government should have exercised caution tin addressing issues of corporate governance and sundry matters before putting up the assets for sale. Much of the issues identified by the former NERC boss are already in the public domain. A crucial one being the lack of the requisite financial or technical capabilities on the part of those who bought the power assets.
The result is a stall in the sector, in spite of the billions of public funds that have been committed into it, even after its privatisation, much of which Nigerians know was wasted or stolen outright.
These identified lapses were part of the reasons we continue to have system collapse, the most recent of which occurred on November 29. The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the umbrella body of distribution companies, had last year decried the incessant occurrences, stating that the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN’s) analogue system had caused over 100 collapses since the privatisation of the power sector in 2013. But the TCN which manages the assets under the privatised power sector, blamed the development on multiple tripping. It’s spokesperson, Ndudi Mbah, said however that investigations would be conducted to determine the cause of the tripping.
The truth of the matter is that it has come to a time when Nigeria must further diversify its sources of power generation. We can no longer continue to rely on the hydro and thermal plants with their well-known challenges of vandals rupturing gas supply pipelines, inadequate or excessive water that encumbers the hydro plants, etc.
This is why the Federal Government’s decision to provide five million solar systems for 25 million Nigerians under its Solar Home Systems is welcome. The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, who disclosed this said the systems would be provided for Nigerians in underserved and off-grid communities across the country. Beneficiaries have an option of outright purchase at N4,000 per month or N1,500 per week, depending on capacities. Apart from helping to boost electricity supply, the project, a private sector-driven initiative to be implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is also expected to provide about 250,000 jobs.
We cannot wait to see the materialisation of this initiative and indeed look forward to more of such environment-friendly projects in the power sector. It is obvious we cannot make progress under the extant power supply arrangement. We definitely have to look beyond it in a manner that would engender competition and put the electricity firms – the generating companies (GenCos), the transmission company as well as the distribution companies (DisCos) on their toes for optimal performance and the consumer will be the king in the business matrix. As things stand, this is not the case. And it is unhealthy in a sector where balancing of interests between electricity consumers and power sector operators is crucial.
