It was a testy session at the House of Representatives on March 22, when Minister of Power Abubakar Aliyu came under fire for the loss of electricity around the country, especially in the past two months.
It was bad enough that the minister did not show up at the session. It was worse that his representative, a permanent secretary, reflected a total surrender to the darkness that Nigerians have been subjected to at home and businesses, and the consequences for personal comfort, health and the nation’s fortunes.
“There is nothing to show in this presentation that you are trying to resolve the problems; it is mere speech and thesis,” said Mogaji Da’u Aliyu, chairman of the House Committee on Power in response to the excuses for the darkness from the lips of the permanent secretary, Nebolisa Anoka.
The reasons advanced for the electricity paralysis included low gas supply, low hydro levels, high cost of gas, disequilibrium between power generation, transmission and distribution. While these excuses are nothing new, the low of power in homes and businesses is hitting rock bottom. It is not acceptable.
The power story in Nigeria is now bogged down in excuses. The prospect of solution seems far-fetched. Apart from the tensions between the three arms of power, we are seeing an unprecedented breakdown of the national grid. When it is not the shortage of gas, it is the shortage of water. Ironically, Nigeria is neither a desert, nor lacking in natural supply of gas. The power crisis is the crisis of governance and a scandal at the very top that has percolated through the country.
We have seen countries in dry climates that never complain of dry seasons as excuse for power shortages and countries without the gift of gas that never witness a wink of power outage. But every time, we hear of the complaints from the Generating Companies (GenCos) that that they have had to shut down because they lack spare parts, foreign exchange and are owed in the trillions because the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc has failed to pay them for what is called unutilised capacity.
NBET has said the reports of the GenCos are opaque, implying that the GenCOs may be exaggerating their debt profiles. There is also a clash between the GenCos and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) because the latter says it is responsible for the collapse of its grid. They have been asked to shut down their units for 365 times in a year when the engines cannot abide more than 20 times. The pressure has led to stresses and breakdowns. For instance, 14 gas-powered generating stations are either not generating or suffer limited generation. Power generating stations in this category include: Omotosho units 5 & 6, Olorunsogo units 3, 4 & 6, Omoku units 3 & 6, Omotosho NIPP units 3 & 4, Delta units 15, 17 & 18, Afam VI units 11 & 12, Olorunsogo NIPP unit 3, Ihovbor NIPP unit 2, Sapele Steam unit 3, Sapele NIPP unit 1, Odukpani NIPP units 1 & 3, and Okpai units 11, 12 & 18. Also, Jebba Hydro and Shiroro Power Stations are either paralysed or gasping for life.
All of these reflect a serious danger ahead. Most Nigerian businesses have to pay more for diesel, which now sells for well over N700 per litre. The spinoff is painful for inflation, cost of living and the general health of the economy.
We also know that the industry suffers from lack of due diligence. One arm can make claims that the other cannot verify, and the absence of facts only shows why the centralisation of power is not a workable formula.
The nation must federalise energy, and that means an entire overhaul of that central aspect of Nigerian life. Hence the intervention of the House of Representatives must be commended as a first step.