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Adelabu cautions youths against sponsors of faceless protest

Minister of Power Chief Adebayo Adelabu has cautioned Nigerians, particularly youths, to beware of sponsors of a faceless protest, who are bent on disrupting peace.

He appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration and support the reforms he is introducing, to make life easier for them.

Speaking in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, during an engagement with youths on the planned August 1 protest, the minister, represented by Mr. Bolaji Afeez, said the right to protest is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, but youths must be cautious of faceless and unverified sponsors of the planned protest, to avoid violence that will move the country backward.

Adelabu, who said he was aware of some individuals with ulterior motives in the diaspora sponsoring the protest to cause chaos and anarchy in the country for political reasons, urged youths that there were alternatives available to them to show their grievances, not just by protest.

Read Also: Adelabu cautions youths against planned protests

Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Monitoring and Delivering Youth Initiatives, Miss Titilope Gbadamosi, said government is open to dialogue, instead of protest, and enjoined youths not to allow faceless and unrecognised groups to use them for political motives.

Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Leader, Prince John Aremu, said Nigerians needed to give the Tinubu administration more time to deliver on its promises.

Arewa Youth Leader across the 33 local governments of Oyo State, Yasir Ibrahim, who spoke on behalf of other groups present, said there are political motives behind the planned protest to cause chaos. He advised youths to stay away from the protest.

July 30, 2024
Adelabu cautions youths against planned protests

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has cautioned youths to beware of sponsors of faceless protest bent on distrupting peace.

He appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience with President Bola Tinubu and support the reforms the President is introducing to make life easier.

Speaking in Ibadan during a stakeholders engagement with the youths on planned protest which is in collaboration with the office of the Special Assistant to the President on Monitoring and Delivering of Youth Initiatives, the Minister, who was represented by Hon. Bolaji Afeez, popularly known as ‘Repete’ said the right to protest is enshrined in the Constitution but youths must be cautious of faceless and unverified sponsors protest to avoid violence that will move the country backwards.

He noted he was aware of some individuals with ulterior motives in the diaspora sponsoring the protest to cause chaos and anarchy in the country for political reasons.

Adelabu urged the youths there are alternatives available to them to show their grievances.

The Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Monitoring and Delivering Youth Initiatives, Miss Titilope Gbadamosi, said that youths need to take advantage of job opportunities the present administration is rolling out for their benefits inorder to curb youthful restiveness.

She noted that if they apply for the job opportunities, they can be among the beneficiaries.

Gbadamosi added that until youths take advantage of the job initiatives provided by the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, they cannot say that the government has not been doing anything for them.

She urged young people in the state to engage with government processes, be responsible citizens, and establish constructive channels of communication with the government.

Gbadamosi said government is open to dialogue instead of protest and urged them not to allow faceless and unrecognized groups to use them for political motives.

She called on the youths to engage with and register for the various opportunities rolled out by the Federal government to escape joblessness.

Read Also: Adelabu, management deny explosion at Zungeru power plant

Oyo All Progressives Congress(APC) Youth Leader, Prince John Aremu, said that Nigerians need to give the administration of President Bola Tinubu more time to deliver on its promises.

He appealed to youths to utilise the student loan and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) initiatives introduced by the present administration to escape the shackles of joblessness.

Arewa youth leaders across the 33 local governments of Oyo State, Yasir Ibrahim, who spoke on behalf of other groups, reiterated that there are political motives behind the planned protest to cause chaos and urged the youths to stay away from the protest.

He lauded the giant stride of President Tinubu and the power Minister in alleviating suffering of Nigerians.

July 29, 2024
Adelabu, management deny explosion at Zungeru power plant

There was no explosion at the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant in Niger State as widely reported, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu has stated.

There were reports that the Zungeru power plant was hit by an explosion in the early hours of Monday.

A parent company of Penstock Limited which is in charge of the Hydroelectric Power Plant refuted the rumour.

According to the Minister, the Zungeru power plant is on the grid and the plant is running at optimum capacity.

A statement by Bolaji Tunji, Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations, quoted the Minister as saying that the report of an explosion is a figment of the imagination of the purveyors of such information.

Read Also: Eid-el-Kabir: Don’t lose hope, Adelabu, Ladoja beg

“I have spoken with the Managing Director of Mainstream Energy and I can assure you that nothing of such took place in Zungeru.

“The plant is working and it continues to supply to the grid. We have video evidence from Zungeru that nothing like that occurred today and whoever is interested should go there to find out.

“It is rather unfortunate that people will sit down somewhere and cook up this sort of story. It is unpatriotic, such people should desist from creating unnecessary panic”.

Also, refuting the rumour in a statement titled: “Fake News of an Explosion at Zungeru Hydro Power Plant.” and posted on X.com on Monday, the management of MESL stated that the plant was intact as it condemned the “false and mischievous report.”

The statement partly reads: “The fake news concerning an explosion at the Zungeru Hydropower Plant with resulting casualties published in newspapers on July 1, 2024, and circulated on social media has been brought to our attention.

“We wish to express our strong objection to this false and mischievous report, categorically stating that no such incident occurred.

“This report is not only false but also highly irresponsible and insensitive, given the pervasive nature of insecurity issues in Nigeria.”

July 1, 2024
‘Transfer of electricity regulatory oversight remains’

The Minister for Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, yesterday said that the federal government is continuing with its earlier stance on transferring electricity regulatory oversight to state governments.

Adelabu, at a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on the implementation of the Electricity Act organised by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which began in Lagos, yesterday, said the federal government would not go against the law as the regulatory autonomy to states is enshrined in the Electricity Act 2023 signed by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

“Granting of regulatory autonomy to states is a provision of the new Act and no one person can single-handedly go against the Act.

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It’s a provision of the law and no law-abiding officer of the state will want to go against the law. It is already included and it must be duly respected,” he said.

However, he admitted that there is the need to address the potential challenges that might occur during the transitioning period, hence the importance of the workshop which had in attendance the 36 commissioners of energy across the country.

Yesterday’s statement by Adelabu is a reversal of his earlier announcement last week when he disclosed plans to halt the transfer of regulatory autonomy to states and conduct a test phase with a few states.

Recall that last month, the NERC, acting on the provisions of the Electricity Act, had announced the transfer of oversight of the electricity market to states like Enugu, Ondo and Ekiti, even as others prepared to key into it.

May 21, 2024
Adelabu’s ‘bandwagon’

The minister should understand that his predecessors made the same promises he is making today; he should tread softly.

It would seem the Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, does not understand where Nigerians are coming from with regards to power supply. That was why he would think his statement about the power sector collapsing in three months if he was not allowed to carry out his reforms in the sector (a critical aspect of which was the phenomenal increase in the tariff by the ‘Band A’ electricity consumers) had meaning to many of the people he was supposed to be addressing.

The increase that took effect on April 3, saw power consumers in the band who enjoy between 20 to 24 hours of electricity daily paying N225 kilowatt per hour from the former N66. Many Nigerians had criticised the rise, which is almost 300 per cent hike, especially given the economic crunch that Nigerians are currently facing, with cost of living rising daily amidst a static wage structure.

The criticism of the tariff made the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to reduce it by 8.1 per cent. This did not change the perception of Nigerians on the matter as they saw the reduction as too meagre, considering the percentage rise. Many people demanded for a complete reversal of the increase.

This was the situation until May 13, when the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) picketed NERC offices and the electricity distribution companies (DisCos), to press home their demands.

There is no doubt that I have reservations on this idea of ‘banding’. Every power consumer should be entitled to 24 hours daily supply of electricity.

Read Also; I’m amused seeing those who said Asiwaju had no chance now gallivanting around him – Gbenga Daniel

Maybe, just maybe it would have been a different thing if there are devices attached to each meter to enable electricity consumers decide which band they want to belong to. I probably would have accepted the idea. But a situation where birds of different feathers find themselves flocking together compulsorily simply because they are attached to the same feeder is, to me, not good enough. Being on the same feeder doesn’t mean people are equally endowed. A policy like this pains me because it is discriminatory.

Indeed, I was astonished when the minister gave the impression that majority of those who joined the picketing train had no business being on the trip. Hear him: “But one thing that I want to state here is, from the statistics of those affected by the hike in tariff, the people on the road yesterday (Monday), who embarked on the peaceful protests, more than 95% of them are not affected by the increase in the tariff of electricity. They still enjoy almost 70% government subsidy in the tariff they pay because the average costs of generating, transmitting and distributing electricity is not less than N180 today.

“A lot of them are paying below N60 so they still enjoy government’s subsidy. So when they say we should reverse the recently increased tariff, sincerely it’s not affecting them. That’s one position.”

Where did the honourable minister put the common saying that ‘an injury to one is an injury to all. That is part of the reason people ‘band’ together for collective bargaining. Moreover, Christians know that we are to cry with those who are crying and rejoice with those that are rejoicing. Again, if some people are on ‘Band A’ today, others would join them tomorrow. It’s only a matter of time.

If it would interest the minister, I was so concerned when the ‘Band A’ tariff was announced that I quickly went to check out where I belong. This was a thing I had been trying to check for so long but couldn’t due to one reason or the other. I came close to compulsorily doing that in January when DisCos seemingly unilaterally increased tariffs, giving me 148 units as against the 201 units that N10,000 used to give me before the tariff increase.

I was uncomfortable when I was told that our area is in ‘Band B’. It then dawned on me that people in my category would be the next to swallow the kind of bitter pill that those in ‘Band A’ are now groaning over. ‘Abi’, is it not B that comes after A?

Honestly, this is troubling the more for the simple reason that I do not know any of the DisCos that can meet targets even despite the categorisation. Indeed, if you ask me, not even those on the so-called ‘Band A’ will forever have light 24/7. Why? Because there would be faults that would take longer than envisaged to fix. Then, there is also the problem of the collapsing grid, etc. which does not recognise ‘banding’. What we would have to be contending with now is a situation where all attention would be paid to ‘Band A’ consumers. We have stayed so long with these DisCos not to know how they think. At any rate, what is the incentive for them to attend to others if they have faults requiring attention at the same time with those in ‘Band A’? It makes business sense to give priority attention to those that are paying premium tariffs.

The ‘Band B’ that my area is said to be is supposed to have light for 16 to 20 hours a day.

I wrote on this page a few weeks ago on the attitude of many of the DisCos’ personnel. I accosted two of them who came to my area for disconnection sometime ago, even as we did not have power supply for some days then; their response was shocking. They wondered why I should be bothered about whether there was light or not since I have prepaid meter; after all, my meter had not been running since there was no power supply to our area! If that is the mentality of their average workers, I wonder how that of those running the DisCos would be different.

The point is; many of them were inherited from the dysfunctional National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and it is that same NEPA mentality that they brought to the DisCos.

As a matter of fact, I had cited the story of some personnel of the DisCo serving Ayobo area in Lagos some years back who knocked at the gate of a building and when those inside asked who was at the gate, they said “NEPA”! Even they too knew that all they had was a change of name and not a change of heart that ought to come with the change of name and their new owners.

I do not know how, given the scenarios I have just painted about the DisCos :banding’ would not be a recipe for complacency for them. Someone told me in the office on April 16 that what is now happening is that only those in Band A are being focused on and that in their area, they do not even qualify to be in Band E, since they now cannot boast of five hours of electricity per day.

One thing about Nigeria is that even when otherwise good policies are replicated here, their ‘Nigerianisation’ makes them turn out badly. Not to talk of a not-too-good policy like ‘banding’.

I said not-too-good because every power consumer should be entitled to 24 hours a day unless by personal choice.

There is no doubt that many Nigerians waste electricity as the minister noted sometime ago. I have always believed too that the reason many shop owners would be in their shops in the daytime and leave their security lights on is because power is cheap. Maybe. But I disagree with his advice that Nigerians switch off their freezers for some time after the items in them have completely frozen, for the simple fact that, with power supply in Nigeria, nobody can be sure of anything. The minister’s advice could only have been tenable in a situation where regular power supply is guaranteed all-year round. If you try that in Nigeria, you are on your own. It could be the day you decide to switch off your freezer that you begin a long walk into darkness. I cannot remember the number of times I had suffered economic losses as power would suddenly become erratic in my area the very day we stock our freezer with perishables.

Unfortunately, ours is not the kind of country where you can easily drag the

DisCos to court for recompense in such situation. I dragged the one serving my area to the NERC Forum some years back and won; but it took such a long time to get justice. It was very expensive too. Not many Nigerians can afford what it cost me to stay without public power supply for one whole year: money I spent on rechargeable this and that which I powered with my generator in daytime and enjoyed at night till daybreak. But that was in the days of cheap petrol.

Mr Adelabu might have vowed within himself that he would make a positive difference in the power sector. But he should understand that there are no sweet words or assurances that he is making that his predecessors never made before. In the end, the changing never changed. That was why he met the poor state of power supply that he inherited. We all know the maxim: ‘once beaten, twice shy’. With regard to power as indeed with other spheres of life, Nigerians had offered themselves to be beaten not once, not twice, but several times that even if angels come from heaven and either threaten or promise to turn the power sector around, they would merely take the threat or promise not as any gospel truth but at best with cautious optimism.

The minister will continue to have problem with Nigerians if all he is trying to sell is his goodness or good intentions without factoring in the fact that he is dealing with people who had been literally raped over and again, only to end up with bruises from the bitter experiences.

Minister Adelabu will do well to tread softly. Let his magic wand begin to give us at least incremental improvement in power supply. It would be catastrophic if we end up with the usual experiences after paying through our nose for power, especially when millions still don’t have prepaid meters. When we notice stable improvement in power supply no matter how incremental, we can then begin to talk of the kind of jump in tariff he is looking at in the power sector to take us to the Promised Land.

For now, the government has merely transferred the financial burden from itself to ‘Band A’ power consumers, there is nothing yet to suggest that it would work sustainably, especially if more people get ‘promoted’ to the band. That is why many Nigerians are not in a hurry to jump into the minister’s wagon.

May 19, 2024
FG halts issuance of electricity regulatory autonomy to state govts

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu said the federal government has stopped the issuance of electricity regulatory autonomy to state governments.

Recalled that in compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) and the Electricity Act 2023 had issued an order to transfer regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Ondo, Ekiti and Enugu States from the Commission to the state electricity regulatory bureau.

However, Adelabu said the suspension was due to the need for state governments, stakeholders in the power sector to properly understand what is required to operate an electricity market.

He spoke at the 8th edition of the Africa Energy Market Place (AEMP) conference in Abuja.

The minister said adequate understanding of the transfer of regulatory oversight of the electricity market to states is imperative for the survival and sustainability of the nation’s power sector.

His words: “Therefore, we must tread carefully, we should not be in a hurry, the market is not a mature market, it is not mature enough. With everything centralised for a single regulator, we have a myriad of issues. Now we tend to create a regulatory framework across 36 states, it is something that we must do in a highly systematic and strategic manner.

“We need just a couple of states as a pilot, which is why I actually halted granting of further regulatory autonomy to states.”

Adelabu said that the transfer of regulatory oversight will be piloted in selected states across the geopolitical zones in the country, noting the peculiarities in each zone.

“When we have each of these zones represented in the pilot and we allow it to run for three to six months, or up to a year, all the possible issues would have been reflected so that we are going to have a learning curve, and all those issues will be addressed before granting further regulatory autonomy, because I have a feeling that we don’t have a comprehensive understanding of what this autonomy means.

“The fact that we gave a state regulatory autonomy doesn’t mean that it’s just about distribution of electricity but it is regulation across the value chain. Generation within your territory, transmission within your territory, and distribution in your territory, including tariff setting.

Read Also: Minister: electricity tariff hike reversal will derail reform plan

Using Lagos state as example, they noted that the state has almost over 40 percent of national consumption today in terms of electricity distribution.

“The moment you take over the regulatory activities of Lagos state, when we talk about tariff, about subsidy, it will be on your neck as a state. I do not know the balance sheet you want to leverage to guarantee the necessary settlements on a monthly basis.

“So we all have to sit down and let everybody have a complete understanding of what this means. And we will know if we are ready to have full autonomy or it will be a partial autonomy for the meantime before we achieve a mature electricity market,” he added.

Adelabu stressed that most stakeholders underestimate the capacity required to have regulatory authorities in 36 states, plus the FCT.

The minister stressed that each state that takes up the regulatory oversight must have a framework and structure to prevent energy theft, vandalism and enough capital for continuous investments and maintenance of infrastructures.

In his remarks, Geometric Power, chairman, Bart Nnaji, noted that while the Act has been able to bring regulation closer to the people, there are a lot of challenges that may arise at the implementation stage.

He explained that many state governments may have difficulties with building adequate capacity to carry out the regulatory functions as required by the Act. Other issues as highlighted by Nnaji include issues of limits as well as sensitivity of the state governments to the operators within the environment.

“On the issue of capacity, it is very clear that what the national regulator has done so far would not be easy to just replicate by the states. Now each commissioner has a lot of training that has been done and they have an institution within a particular area and then you have states that are just coming up, it will take a while.

“So success in terms of capacity for states will be to say, we will face it over time. The first thing you begin to do is handholding by the national regulator and till eventually you can now stand.

Now, on the issue of limits, there is a tendency for state governments to believe now that it is possible for them to have the ability to generate, transmit and distribute, that they can do it all. But there are DisCos within the environment, and these DisCos are owned by companies. And so the wires are owned by this Discos.

“So understanding that they just can’t go to act as if they can suddenly take over the wires would be an issue. So let them understand how to collaborate with the existing companies.

“Now, the last one about this is sensitivity. I think that all the state governments that are going to want to do this regulation need to be sensitive about a whole number of issues such as cost recovery. People who invest in infrastructure must recover their costs, and so it requires the federal government to work with the states to give them guidance,” he said.

Ikeja Distribution Company, Managing Director, Folake Soetan, said implementing the regulatory oversight at the state levels would require the states to develop a regulatory policy framework that can create a conducive environment and attract sustainable investments into the power sector in the states.

She noted that states will have to develop strategies to address issues of liquidity in the sector.

May 17, 2024
Tariff: Customers who don’t enjoy 20-hour electricity will not be charged – Adelabu

Power Minister, Adebayo Adelabu, has guaranteed that customers who do not currently enjoy 20 hours of electricity will not be charged the new tariff.

During a one-day investigation hearing before the Senate Committee on Power, the minister stated on Monday, April 29 that it is necessary to stop the proposed increase in tariff by eleven successor electricity distribution companies due to Nigeria’s dire economic situation.

He said that the government announced a fresh initiative to salvage the sinking industry and assured Nigerians that the suffering would only last a short while.

The clarification comes as electricity consumers grapple with the recent increase in tariffs by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

This explanation comes as Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) tariff hikes have left customers struggling.

Read Also: Minister Adelabu and our megawatts of darkness

The minister also stated that the federal government would have had to pay N3.2 trillion as a subsidy on electricity this year if the recent increase in tariff is to be reversed.

He also explained that the government was concerned, and had introduced the new policy to rescue the sector.

April 29, 2024
Enough of sponsored campaign against Adelabu, CSO warns

A civil society organisation (CSO), Peoples Right Agenda (PRA), has condemned what it called the incessant sponsored attacks on Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu and his effort to make the power sector work for Nigerians.

It described the alleged media assaults as sponsored.

In a statement by its National Coordinator Tunde Olaoshebikan and Secretary Isaac Olatona, PRA said: “Since the day of ECN (Electricity Company of Nigeria), NEPA (National Electricity Power of Nigeria), PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria), Nigeria has had over 40 Ministers of Power but the total megawatts (MW) to the national grid has not significantly improved.

“The highest the country had ever pushed out was around 4,000 MW except about two years ago when 5,800 MW was wheeled to the grid, and this was a one-off situation.

“We cannot continue to do things the same way and expect a different result. Adelabu has come in as a Minister of Power who desires to do things differently and this is what those who do not want the country to enjoy stable electricity are not happy about.

“We know the attacks are sponsored because these people want the status quo to continue. Among all the ministers in the Cabinet, he (Adelabu) is the only one that those behind these campaigns have singled out…

“We know there are cabals in the industry who want it to be business as usual, but they will not succeed, Nigeria will thrive under this administration.”

The Civil Society Organisation also noted that from its findings, the sponsorship of these negative media campaigns against the power sector and by extension the present administration have political undertone.

“Apart from those who are unhappy with the reforms going on in the sector, a lot of political undertones have also been observed that clearly shows the campaign of calumny is sponsored even from within the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some opposition elements in the Minister’s home State of Oyo.

“Some of the reports either make reference to Adelabu’s governorship ambition which has no relevance in today’s situation. The Minister is barely a year in office while President Tinubu’s administration of four years is yet to spend a year of its four-year tenure, so making reference to a governorship ambition at this period is being cheeky and deliberate to portray the Minister in bad light and possibly de -market him before 2027. This should stop in order to enable him concentrate on the job at hand. We are also aware of the cabals who believe the Ministry of Power is their birth right and wants it back at all cost in order to continue their entrenched negative practices which has brought us to this state. The president is too astute to fall for such cheap blackmail. Adelabu’s track record as an achiever speaks for him and the president is aware of this and he has his reasons for putting him in that Ministry”.

Read Also: Minister Adelabu and our megawatts of darkness

We also have questions for those calling for Adelabu’ removal. Has anyone asked if one naira has been paid from the sector debt overhang that Adelabu raised? Has anybody asked If money has been made available to complete the over 120 unfinished projects at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)? What has been done to the frequent vernalisation of the National Grid by the Security Operatives leading to Grid collapse? Did Adelabu midwife the Privatisation process that gave licenses to weak and financially troubled companies? What has been done to the inadequate gas supply to the Power Generating companies causing shortfall in generation? Are all these caused by the Minister? Will changing the Minister resolve all these issues overnight?”

Not only that, PRA also noted that in the history of the sector, no Minister has displayed a full understanding of the sectorial issues and proffered workable solutions like Adelabu did. Any one in doubt should go and listen to his interviews and speeches”.

Olaoshebikan and Olatona also revealed that information at their disposal does not indicate there is any cabinet reshuffle for now given the fact that there has not been a single Capital release for any ministry to execute its plan for 2024. “ So, it will be tough to even measure any Minister’s performance, except from policy thrust point of view and not actual implementation”.

April 29, 2024
FG to resell DisCos under banks, AMCON in three months

…TCN blames outage on gas constraint

The federal government on Monday, April 22, vowed to sell off the five electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) now under the management of banks and Asset Management Company (AMCON) in the next three months to reputable technical power operators.

Recalled that Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) is currently under the management of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank manages Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, and Kano Electricity Distribution Company while Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company is under the AMCON management.

They all found themselves under the new management arrangement owing to their inability to repay their loans.

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who made this known yesterday to the Senate Committee on Power was in an oversight visit to the ministry in Abuja, that the energy distribution assets are technical and as such, they should be under the management of technical experts.

He informed the committee that tough decisions on the DisCos have become necessary because the entire Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) fails when they refuse to perform.

According to him, the ministry will prevail on the Nigerian Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to revoke underperforming licenses and also change the management board of the DisCos if it becomes the solution.

Adelabu said, “Lastly, on distribution. Very soon you will see that tough decisions will be taken on the DisCos. They are the last lap of the sector. If they don’t perform, the entire sector is not performing.

” The entire ministry is not performing. We have put pressure on NERC, which is their regulator to make sure they raise the bar on regulation activities.

” If they have to withdraw licenses for non-performance, why not? If they have to change the board of management, why not?

“And all the DisCos that are still under AMCON and Banks, within the next three months, they must be sold to technical power operators with good reputations in utility management.

“We can no longer afford AMCON to run our DisCos. We can no longer afford the banks to run our DisCos. This is a technical industry and it must be run by technical experts.”

The minister also noted that it has become necessary to reorganize the DisCos for efficiency.

He stressed that Ibadan DisCo is too large for one company to manage.

Responding to the decision to resell the DisCos, a member of the committee, Senator Isah Jibrin alleged that some of the operators have stripped the assets of the DisCos they took over in 2013.

He insisted that the operators of any revoked DisCo must be compelled to fix the assets as they were before handover.

Besides, Adelabu also dropped the hint that the Federal Government mobilized a company named Messr Zigglass with $ 200 million (N32 billion) to supply three million meters that were yet to be supplied to date.

“If you held N32billion for these years, where is the interest”, he asked.

According to him, President Ahmed Tinubu has directed that the contract be revoked.

He said the government will bridge the current eight million metering gap in the next four to five years.

The minister noted that the funding is coming from a seed capital of N100billion and N75billion.

He added that the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NISA) is coming to the aid of the ministry with the fund.

He described the power sector crisis as historical, stressing it has defied all solutions.

Adelabu blamed issues in the industry on uncompleted projects, urging the committee to approve funds for the completion of over 120 projects that litter across the country.

He also noted that the frequent grid collapse was due to a lack of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).

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Responding, the committee chairman, Senator Eyinaya Abaribe dismissed him, stressing that the ministry has been complaining about SCADA procurement in the last 12 years without addressing it.

Besides, Senator Danjuma Goje who is a member of the committee and a former Minister of Power, told Adelabu that nothing has changed in the sector.

Senator Lalong who responded to the issue of the company that abandoned a project after collecting $200million since 2021 noted that people must be punished for their crimes to serve as a deterrent to others.

Speaking Senator Osita Ozunaso called for the cancellation of the DisCos licenses, stressing “DisCos are the problem.”

Meanwhile, Senator Neda Imasuen advised that since the present Managers of the power sector have failed over the years, the government should handle them over to new ones even foreigners.

The same committee proceeded to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on the same oversight function, where the Managing Director, Sule Abdulaziz urged the committee to assist in raising funds for the completion of over 120 projects.

He urged the committee to also help in addressing the issue of right of way. The TCN boss sought the committee to make a law that would give the right of way to the projects.

According to him, vandalization is a huge challenge hampering the projects in the North East and South East.

He revealed that the company is collaborating with a Chinese firm to build a super grid.

The N2 billion that TCN gets from the 2024 budget allocation can only pay compensation, he said, pleading for an increased budget.

He added there is a need for funding for new substations.”

In her presentation, Independent System Operator (ISO) Executive Director, Engr. Nafisat Ali revealed that gas has become a major constraint in the industry. She said, “Today there is no gas. We need gas.”

She said the DisCos were still rejecting load despite the power shortage in the country. “The DisCos don’t abide by allocation. That is the challenge,” said Ali.

Adelabu had earlier informed the committee that the federal government owes the Generation Companies over N1.3trillion and also owes the gas suppliers $1.3billion.

He said the gas suppliers have refused to supply more gas because of the debt.

The minister urged the committee to address the debt matter.

Addressing reporters at the end of the visit, Abaribe noted that the committee would interface with the federal government to settle the gas debt.

He said: “Every option for us is on the table. If the option is for us to interface with the federal government to do their part, because it is a debt, so they have to pay their debt, we will do so.”

He said he would not doubt the minister that the World Bank SCADA project will be completed in two years.

According to him, the committee will focus its oversight on the ministry and the TCN concerning the implementation of the World Bank project.

He noted that the committee has invited the NERC and other stakeholders to answer some questions concerning the recently reviewed tariff on April 29.

The chairman said the committee would review the penalties for power assets vandalization.

April 22, 2024
Minister Adelabu and our megawatts of darkness

Authoritative sociologists and urban planners will readily tell you that with a few exceptions, virtually every city in the world has a slum. However, in Abuja, Kaduna, Ibadan, Aba or Port Harcourt, household or slum dwelling is elevated to electricity tariff Band A , even when the circumstances of life have relegated most people to being part of the statistics feeding on less than one dollar per day. You just wonder how they come about the queer stratifications followed by benumbing justifications.

Sometimes last year, Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, breezed into ministerial office with all the excitement and panache that one should expect from anyone, especially a relatively, young man posted to one the most sought after and lucrative ministries. He didn’t just come into office brimming with confidence, he sounded like someone who understood the ancestral maladies plaguing that sector and gave those who cared to listen an assurance that he would, bit by bit, fix them with the aim of ensuring that Nigerians have the privilege of enjoying uninterrupted electricity supply in their homes.

You see, the phrase ‘uninterrupted power supply’ has been a regular refrain on every politician’s manifesto in Nigeria from time immemorial. It became so common that even those contesting for councillorship in the local government areas across the country never hesitate to tell their gullible followers that they do have the capacity to provide portable water, roads, quality education and reliable electricity supply for everyone. We all know that what they parade was a lie-laden manifesto but the masses hardly interrogate those promises because we know the Federal Government would eventually bear the brunt of the citizens’ anger with the kind of queer federalism that we pretend to be running.

And so, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Adelabu dared to paint a spectacular picture about his determination to unlock the economic potentials of Nigeria with the injection of constant electricity into the system. His words, on resumption, were long on promises as he set targets which, he noted, would be adhered to in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s vision for the country. He said he would ensure that his team would be at the forefront of providing optimal solutions for the country’s power needs; leverage the new Nigerian Electricity Act to open new avenues for power provision in addition to paying more than a passing attention to renewable and alternative energy sources to fast track access in rural areas. And, more importantly, he said that “in the next couple of years, it will be something of the past because Nigeria needs 24/7 electricity supply and anything short of that performance is not acceptable to Nigeria.”

When a new man at the helm of affairs utters tough words like the ones above, the public expects nothing but intentional actions that would drive the vision in that sector. Even when we all know that Adelabu was not the first person to offer such seeming hollow promises without requisite delivery, one had thought that the youthful vibrancy and the drive to stand out – considering his political ambition in the nearest future – should propel him into walking his talk. Besides, it would be a huge plus for the youth if Adelabu and his other colleagues in the cabinet can be at the top of the ratings of the Hadiza Bala Usman led ministerial performance unit.

For example, this writer had taken the time to listen to Adelabu prior to the Friday, April 5 Ministerial Briefing in Abuja and he never failed to hit the right chord. Where some have questioned the rationale behind sending a financial guru to the power ministry to superintend, I belong to the group that believes that the job of a minister in that sector should be administrative. If he gets it right, the professionals under his authority have no reason than to perform. It was the same belief I had when the former Governor of Lagos State, Raji Fashola, was deployed to the same ministry. The only concern really was that Fashola, with all the confidence reposed in him and his track records as a goal-getter, cannot be said to have achieved anything worth writing about as the Minister of Power. What this means, to laymen like us, is that something is fundamentally wrong somewhere. The power sector in Nigeria has become a big clog in the wheel of progress, no thanks to many years of maladministration and, if we must put it bluntly, corrosive corruption. After years of pillages, it remains one huge drainpipe that has never produced any light at the end of the tunnel. The ministry is a national disgrace and a poster for incompetence. From his previous statements, it didn’t look like Adelabu was unaware of these problems and he never looked like someone who would gloss over them. And that was why some of us were waiting with bated breath to see how he would go about changing the narrative of a sector known for allocating billions of dollars annually only to end up supplying the hapless citizens with megawatts of darkness in proportions that amount to a national tragedy.

While I confess my inability to understand all the technical postulations of the Adelabu team and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Musiliu Oseni, at that Friday briefing held to address concerns raised by Nigerians over the 300 per cent tariff hike for what the minister described as Band A customers, it was clear to me that Nigeria’s dream of realising steady electricity supply for every household will remain a mirage for a long time. First, I was shocked that some sort of Orwellian methodology is at the heart of the country’s energy imbalance as exemplified by the band hypothesis.

Until that revelation, after the tariff hike, many Nigerians did not know that privileges are attached to how they enjoy electricity supply. And so, in a country where some city dwellers can hardly boast of three hours of uninterrupted power supply, fellow Nigerians classified under Band A, B and, sometimes C, do have the privilege of having supply for between 15 hours to 22 hours. Isn’t that wonderful? This set of people, the minister noted, had been the major beneficiaries of the government’s electricity subsidy totaling over N2.9 trillion as at March, 2024. He said without the tariff hike which automatically translates into the removal of subsidy on the electricity bills of these persons, the subsidy could have cost the government a whopping N3 trillion which cannot be sustained by any serious-minded government that has development as a core strategy . Despite criticisms from many quarters, Adelabu said the ‘pro-poor’ tariff hike only affected 15 per cent of electricity users while the government, for now, still subsidises 67 per cent of the cost of transmitting and distributing electricity in the country. If the government had wanted to be brutal, Adelabu said, it could have opted for a wholesome removal of electricity subsidy from all the bands thereby aggravating the already parlous state of quotidian living in Nigeria.

Read Also:BREAKING: Power minister, Adelabu dumps Accord, to rejoin APC

Listen to him: “Two things and lessons we must achieve. Number one is achieving operational sustainability of operators on cost recovery. Anybody that goes into any business, the first intention is to recover cost, then if possible make some profit. The moment you cannot cover your cost, the sustainability of such business is doubtful. It will be run aground. But this cost recovery can either be through commercial pricing or a subsidised pricing. Commercial pricing is when the entire cost of producing power is transferred 100% plus the profit to the consumers of power. Subsidised pricing regime is when the consumers are not allowed to pay the full cost of production and government has pledged to pay a portion of this on their behalf. That is the regime that we are in Nigeria.

“We are in a subsidy pricing regime, whereby government provides a large portion of the cost of producing, of transmitting, and of distributing power. And I must tell you that as at today, before the introduction of the tariff increase, government is subsidising nothing less than 67% of the cost of producing, transmitting, and distributing electricity in Nigeria. At the current exchange rate, this is going to translate into N2.9 trillion for 2024. This is more than 10% of the national budget. Power sector is just a single sector out of so many sectors that government has to attend to. We have Works, we have Housing, we have Education, we have Health, we have Defence and so on and so forth that are all competing for this meagre revenue from the government. So, it will be very insensitive on our part to compel government to continue to subsidise at that rate of almost N3 trillion for the power sector alone. We just have to be realistic and considerate,” Adelabu said.

On this tariff matter, there is big question hanging on what truly constitutes electricity subsidy. This is because no one has been able to explain where this particular subsidy removal is coming from as the Federal Government had earlier in March, 2022 told the world that Nigeria has “quietly succeeded in the removal of electricity subsidy” and would soon move to what it called an incremental removal of fuel subsidy. This revelations were made by the then Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed.

She said: “We are cleaning up our subsidies. We had a setback, we were to remove fuel subsidy by July this year but there was a lot of pushback from the polity.

We have elections coming and because of the hardship that companies what the citizens went through during the COVID-19 pandemic, we just felt that the time was not right, so we pulled back on that. But we have been able to quietly implement subsidy removal in the electricity sector and as we speak, we don’t have subsidies in the electricity sector. We did that incrementally over time by carefully adjusting the prices at some levels while holding the lower levels down.”

The question should then be: why is the FG still talking about electricity subsidy in 2024 if the same FG, under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, admitted that it was able to remove electricity subsidy in March 2002. And if it was about percentages, can anyone tell us what percentage was removed at that time and what was held down at the lower levels of the electricity ladder?

However, on the surface, Adelabu’s well-tailored analysis is compelling, He was appealing to our conscience and was nudging us to understand why government had to go that route again as it did when it removed fuel subsidy in one fell swoop. He said the rich were just milking the poor who were on other bands. Now, the rich would have to pay through their noses and boost the revenue drive by the Federal Government. How I wish it was that simple. Shouldn’t someone have learnt from the fallouts of fuel subsidy removal? So, a manufacturer or business person on Band A would pay 300 per cent hike in his electricity supply at N225 per kilowatt per hour and the eggheads behind the hike expects him to bear the cost without forcing it down the throats of the consumers of his end product? Is that how it works? If that is the case, why are we then the collective victims of the fuel subsidy cancellation and not the extremely rich who were said to be the ones milking the system dry? Is the minister even sure that there is anyone – and that includes Aso Rock residents – still enjoying uninterrupted power supply for 10 hours in this country? Have they really carried out an audit of those on Band A to be sure that they are all rich and capable of paying the new rate?

If there is any uncomfortable truth that Adelabu must be told, it is the fact that NOTHING has changed in the operational manual of the power sector under him that should give one the confidence to predict a brighter future. In fact, electricity supply across the nation has gone from bad to worse. Those who had the privilege of intermittent supply of about 12 hours can hardly boast of 6 hours daily. That is the sickening reality in most areas. The so-called DISCOS, despite the huge investment, still parade obsolete equipment. Consumers are daily being exploited to buy one needed electrical spare parts or the other even when they lay legitimate complaints before the authorities. When transformers pack up, residents are coerced to contribute money to buy new ones. And amid all this, the DISCOS seem to be in a contest as regards who can breast the tape in the supply of megawatts of darkness. It’s a crazy race that has further stagnated development and personal growth in the country. The pain and anguish Nigerians pass through daily can only be imagined as the drama continues. It is one thing to theorise about supplying hours of electricity to customers, but the practical reality is that it is hardly the case. Nigerians are just resilient in coping with the darkness as they forever hang on to a forlorn hope. Will Adelabu pilot the end of the endless wait for Nigerians to exhale and have a glimpse of the economic possibilities that uninterrupted power supply can engender? Or will he, like many others before him, be another underperformer in that power sector? Only time will tell.

April 14, 2024