The Nation Newspaper

Tag: darkness

  • Nine Edo communities battle darkness

    An electrification project that would have brought joy to nine communities in Ward three of Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State has turn into a nightmare for residents in the community as leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressive Congress are at loggerheads over who should execute the project.

    The communities comprising Ogbuwe , Utese, Egbeta, Ogbetse, Olumoye, Edienzegbughe, Okodu and Aghanokpe have been without electricity for years.

    Already, 13 youths from the locality have been arrested and remanded to prison custody for allegedly stopping work on the electricity project. Leaders of PDP have been protesting the arrest of the 13 youths.

    Youths and elders of the communities had in January protested to the headquarters of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to register their displeasure over inability of the electricity firm to restore power to them.

    The protesters warned political parties not to take any campaign to their Ward to solicit for votes in the governorship election.

    Leader of the protesters, Emmanuel Ogefia, had told newsmen that for ‘over five years, the people of the communities have been in total blackout for reason they could not decipher.

    “We are tired of staying in darkness and that is why we are crying out to governor for assistant so that we will be out of darkness. If not, no light, no vote. We will not even allow any political parties to bring their campaign train to our communities and if they do, it means they have brought problem to us.

    “That is just the matter. They should give us light so that there can be peace between the aspirants and the people of our communities because they are the ones deceiving us”.

    It was gathered that electricity was first extended to the nine communities through Okada by Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, the Esama of Benin Kingdom but was disconnected for reasons unknown to the affected.

    Moved by the plight of the communities, the lawmaker representing Ovia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Barr. Omosede Igbinedion, said she used her personal funds to began remedial works on the lines as well as erecting electric poles.

    Omosede said her efforts to fulfill electioneering promises by provide electricity to the communities was stopped by leaders of APC in the locality because of the September 10 governorship election.

    She accused a former Deputy Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Bright Osayande and the State Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Priestly Ediagbonya, who hailed from the community as being responsible for stopping the project because of the forthcoming elections.

    According to her, “Bright Osayande is a third term lawmaker and he fail to do the electricity project. During my electioneering campaign, I promised to embark on providing electricity for the people. It was on that ground I started the electrification project with my money.

    “APC members came and said they want to put poles on where I have dug to out to put poles. The community resisted them that they should not do it that they failed to do the project for the past eight years. The community riot and Ediagbonya brought thugs to the place.

    “It was after the altercation that Ediagbonya went to the police station and the police invited 13 of them who were just artisans. They went to the police station and were detained on charges of assault. We were surprised the State Commissioner for Justice changed the charge to attempted murder and they were arraigned and remanded to prison custody.”

    “This is the problem of democracy in Nigeria. The system has failed us. The three arms of government are supposed to be separate. In Edo, there is the fusion of Executive and the Judiciary. We also see the police working in connivance with the state government. It is something the federal government has to come to our aid. The international community should come and monitor this election. These young men have no reason to be behind bars. Oshiomhole is a dictator and has no respect for the rule of law.”

    Ediagbonya on his part said it was the community elders that decided to contribute money to fix the electricity project after Chief Igbinedion cut off electricity supply from Okada after the people refused to vote for the PDP.

    The Youths and Sports Commissioner said they got approval from the Benin Electricity Distribution Company after modalities were worked out on how to pay the N2.2m electricity bills owed by the community.

    He displayed a letter written to the BEDC and signed by four leaders of the community expressing the communities readiness to pay for the electricity project.

    The letter was signed by Ebose Terry, Edosomwan Segun, Edo Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Priestly Ediagbonya and Hon Matthew Oguntimehin.

    In the letter in which they sought permission to carry out remedial work on the BEDC lines from Iguomo to Ogbesse, the communities promised to pay the outstanding N2.2m electricity debts in four installments, replace 210 wooden electric poles with concrete poles.

    The communities’ elders also said the work would not attract any additional cost to the BEDC and urged the BEDC to send engineers to supervise the remedial works.

    Ediagbonya in his words said, “Two days to election, Chief Igbinedion gave us light. After the election, he put it off. We went into partnership with CSDP. If you are paying 10percent, they will add 90 percent. We revalue the project. We attended meeting here six times.

    “After PHCN changed ownership and the new BEDC told us to wait that when they settle down and fix the sub-station at Isihor. We had meetings and reached a compromised. We reached an agreement to pay the debt in four installments. All remedial work will be at no cost to BEDC. As we were doing it, we heard Omosede was also working on the project at a time constituency project is still a controversy due to padding.

    “We told BEDC about Omosede actions and they said whoever they did not give approval cannot work on their line. They gave us letter of attorney. Based on that we took the poles and the workers. On their way, some boys blocked the road with shootings, canisters. Police shot into the air to scare them away. They escorted the vehicle to the express road. They beat a former councilor to stupor. They smashed my car.

    “The boys were being used by Igbinedion daughter. The one she electrified at Igo was done by Osahon. We can no longer be enslave. The Esama boasted that if we do the project he will cut it and disconnect us.

    “He first cut us off because PDP was at the centre. I am doing what I am doing now because PDP has lost power. If it were then, nobody will listen to my complaint. They will just phone them in Abuja to cut us off. Let them mention the person who gave them authority.”

    As both the PDP and APC battle over who would execute the projects, the communities have remained in darkness and suffer the consequences.

  • DisCos of darkness

    POWER outage is not strange in this land. It is something we have become used to. We are only surprised when light is stable. We keep on wondering what is happening, expecting the light to go off any time. As long as there is light we feel uncomfortable. It is as if something is wrong somewhere; as if we are being propelled by a force to will the power authority to cut light. Call it the force of darkness, you may not be wrong.

    Living in darkness has been our lot since the days of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) – the forerunner of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).

    With the explosion in our population by the time NEPA came into being in 1972, it was obvious that we may be having an energy crisis if we did not do the right things. We relied solely on hydropower for our supply needs then. It was not the era of gas turbines and power plants.

    Our inability to get the power sector right has done a lot of havoc to the economy. Many companies are today running below capacity because of irregular power supply. Many have sacked workers to remain afloat and yet many have relocated to other countries where the environment is friendlier. The story does not end there. Others have folded up because they cannot cope. In this category are the textile firms, which used to employ millions of people. Today, the textile industry is dead. Go to the Ikeja Industrial Estate on Oba Akran Avenue and see the carcass of the Nigerian Textile Mills. Many others abound like that in Kaduna and Kano.

    The real sector is hard hit by this problem. Manufacturing companies are now comatose because their machines cannot run at optimal capacity. These machines require uninterrupted power to function well.

    Like large scale companies, small businesses also suffer from the power problem. They are hard hit because they do not operate an economy of scale. Theirs is a cash and carry business run on the basis of what can be tagged as ‘’pay as you go’’. They cannot expand their businesses easily because they do not have the financial muscle. All they do is subsistence business – trading to get what to eat. These days, they can barely make ends meet because of the terribly low power supply.

    Ironically, it is the government that is asking Nigerians to be creative that is killing talents. As it is for businesses, so it is for individuals. In our respective homes, we run a mini-government, providing for ourselves services which should be rendered by the government. We dig boreholes for water supply; we run generators to provide light and through communal efforts we build our own roads. Yet, we pay tax; but we do not see what it is being used for.

    Getting power right is crucial to remaking Nigeria. There is nothing we will achieve as a nation if we do not address the power challenge frontally. The privatisation of the sector was meant to achieve this. The gains of the  2001 deregulation of the telecommunication sector opened our eyes to the inherent benefits of getting government out of business.

    We were upbeat about the privatisation of power because we thought it would change the electricity supply equation for good. The 2003 unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which succeeded the NEPA in 2005, into 18 successive generation companies (GenCos) and distribution companies (DisCos), was supposed to end our power woes. We never knew that it will mark the beginning. The GenCos and DisCos have been in business for about three years now, yet we have not felt their impact. The other day, a friend disagreed with my observation, saying: “but they have been distributing darkness!”  Can you beat that? All we have been getting from these companies are excuses on why they cannot deliver.

    It seems they did not bargain for what they are getting. These firms probably thought that they were walking into money by acquiring the assets of the PHCN. They appeared to have forgotten that business is not a bed of roses. Acquisitions are not always what they seem from outside until you get inside. A seasoned businessman does not only look at the assets of a concern, but also at its liabilities. The GenCos and DisCos missed the way by looking at the good side of the books only; they did so because they were thinking only in terms of naira and kobo – that is what is in it for them in the short run and not what they were going to give to customers in the long run in terms of efficient service.

    Under them, power supply has collapsed, yet they keep on harassing customers to pay their bills. To pay for services not rendered? In recent times, they have been placing adverts in the papers, threatening to disconnect debtor-customers. What are they waiting for? They should go ahead and start the exercise having fulfilled the requirement of serving customers a notice before disconnecting them. What difference will it make if they disconnect debtors? Have they not thrown the nation into darkness already with their incessant power outages? Those of us not owing them do not enjoy their services. There was nothing to show for the N750 monthly Service Charge they used to collect from us before it was scrapped with the coming of the new tariff last February 1.

    They fought tooth and nail to retain the charge because whether or not they gave us light in a particular month, they will be entitled to the money. The DisCos, especially have not been up and doing; they should buckle up in order to win customers’ confidence. We know that there are challenges; but they, as corporate entities, should have factored these into their operations before taking off.

    We know all about the gas problem; the clash with former PHCN workers; the vandalism of power plants and cables and the resurgent Niger Delta militancy, but all these cannot justify the DisCos’ poor performance so far. They can do better and I hope they will change for the better before customers rise against them.

  • ‘Why V.I., Lekki, Ajah, others are in darkness’

    ‘Why V.I., Lekki, Ajah, others are in darkness’

    •EKEDC promotes spokesman, others

    The trip in a line from the Egbin Power Station caused the power outage in some areas of its jurisdiction since Sunday, the Head, Corporate Communications, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, has said.

    He said the problem affected residents of Ajah, Lekki and Alagbon to get power.

    Other areas affected by the outage include Lagos Island, Ikoyi, Victoria Island Lekki, Ajah, and Ibeju, Idemudia said, adding that  efforts were being made by generation and transmission technical personnel to repair the fault.

    Idemudia appealed to customers to bear with the company, and that supply to the affected areas would be restored soon.

    The spokesperson of Transmission Company of Nigeria, Lagos Region Mrs. Celestina Osin, confirmed that the blackout was as a result of a detachment on the wire of the Egbin-Ajah 330KV Transmission Line3.

    She said: “Our team of maintenance engineers is already at work to rectify the fault as quickly as possible, with the aim of getting customers back to the system. We therefore, apologise to all affected customers to bear with us for all the inconveniences caused by the blackout. We assure customers of a speedy restoration of power.”

    Meanwhile, Eko Electricity Distribution Company has promoted  some top staff members.

    According to a statement, Idemudia was promoted from Assistant General Manager (Corporate Communications) to General Manager.

    Principal Managers Uzoh Obialeri, Femi Adewumi and Iyabo Iledare, have moved up  as Assistant General Managers.

    The District Manager, Islands District, Oluwafemi Olaoye and Uthman Saheed Abiodun of Finance and Accounts Department are now Principal Managers, while Ovie Adjekpiyede of Projects Department and Iheoma Chukwuka of Legal Department were promoted Senior Managers.

    The company said the exercise was  continuous  and a demonstration of the company’s unwavering desire to position itself as a worker-friendly organisation.

     

  • How company’s negligence threw Bayelsa communities into darkness

    How company’s negligence threw Bayelsa communities into darkness

    The popular suburbs of Yenagoa – Agudama, Akenfa and Igbo-Gene- have one thing in common : darkness. For over a month, residents and workers in the area have been battling with protracted power outage.

    Though the power situation in the state is generally epileptic, the condition of the three neighbourhoods is pathetic. Even when the Port-Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) rations its meager megawatts, the suburbs are denied their share.

    The predicament of residents in the area started about four weeks ago when  a crane said to belong to Daewoo Construction Company (DCC) fell and destroyed an electricity pole.

    Samson, a resident of Akenfa recalled what happened on that day. He said: “A crane carrying a caravan was trying to drop the caravan and then it got hooked to the electric wire and caused the collapse of a pole.

    •The car damaged by the caravan
    •The car damaged by the caravan

    “Both the crane and the caravan fell. The caravan landed on a car that was parked by the roadside. Some people said the leg of the crane was not well positioned on the soil which was sandy.

    “We’ve not had light for a month. This is unfair. When I’m home I can’t watch television again. I can’t watch news again and the heat these days is terrible. I don’t know why it’s taking them this long to rectify the issue.

    “Even MTN’s generator and gate were affected. I think PHEDC said they must be paid before they repair anything and the company that owns the crane has not been here to say something.This incidence affects the Naval Headquarters and the Nigerian Law School in Agudama”.

    In fact, the law school and the naval headquarters have been thrown into darkness. Everybody is appointing accusing fingers at Daewoo for its nonchalant attitude towards the problem.

    The Spokesperson of the Central Naval Command, Lt. Com. Ahmed wondered why some people’s negligence would be allowed to fester and cause a monumental problems to thousands of residents.

    “It is affecting us both psychologically and economically. The streetlights are no longer functioning and this has increased the level of theft in the evening. Bad boys snatch bags and phones from people.

    “You need to see the number of people that troop to the filling station here every evening. It is very serious. It is even worse that Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company(PHEDC) isn’t doing anything about it”, he said.

    Also James, an auto repairer in Agudama confirmed the circumstances that led to the falling of the crane and caravan on electric pole.

    “A company came here with a crane and caravan to drop it at this very site. The crane man took the caravan up to lay it down on one side, the crane’s leg bent and the crane and caravan fell on top of the car. The car was damaged beyond repair”, he said.

    Niger Delta Report (NDR) gathered that the damaged vehicle belongs to one Mr. Sunny Osamuje. When NDR located Osamuje, he was livid with anger. He demanded an immediate replacement to his car which he said was a source of livelihood to him and his family members.

    He said: “I am into transport business and it is this my car that I use. I am also the security man in charge of this telecommunication mast.

    “For now, there is no light and the company that damaged my car has not come to tell me whether they will buy me another car or not.

    “The company was complaining when I went there that the bill PHEDC and MTN gave them is too much.

    “My car has been lying there for one month and nobody has come to discuss anything with me. I am a family man who needs to feed his family.

    “The driver of the crane was so careless that he wouldn’t listen when he was told to move the crane from the roadside. Luckily the crane crossed above my house but unfortunately came on my car before it was removed from my car.

    “There was a day Daewood employees came to meet that the company wanted to buy me another car. We got to a car dealer’s shop here in Bayelsa state and the man said the car is about #500,000, but the company said the car is too expensive and that we should go to Port Harcourt.

    “We got there but could not buy the car. I won’t allow them to move this crane until they resolve my problem”.

    Indeed, the development has affected business owners within the area. They are complaining bitterly and pleading with all the parties involved in the problem to quickly resolve it.

    For instance, Mrs. Isabella, a fashion designer, said she had spent a lot of money on fuel to run her generator since the incident occurred.

    “This incident happened on 1st of April. Since then, there has not been electricity and I use N1,000 fuel to power my generator everyday.

    “Nobody has even come to our rescue to look at what is happening. No information; no nothing. Just like that,we are in darkness.

    “This has affected me badly in several ways. I cannot do what I’m supposed to do. Even in the night I cannot cut clothes. We close the shop by 7:00pm now because there is no light and all these bad boys are using that as an advantage to steal. We now sleep in fear”, she said.

    Also, Chibuzor, a dealer on electrical appliances called for the intervention of the government.

    “Honestly, this light issue has affected us so much. The company should do something about this. They don’t seem to care. The government should please come to our aid” he said.

    To Mr. Ifeanyi, a refrigerator and air-conditioner dealer, Daewoo should not abandon the communities.

    “Actually,for the kind of work I do,I need power regularly. The company that owns the crane has come several times to remove it to no avail because of how the crane fell.

    “We are still looking up to the company to come and do something but they cannot do it alone. So, the government has to assist them.

    “I don’t like being idle,I should be busy by now but the work is paralysed because there is no power.”

    But many of the residents appealed to Daewoo to remove the cranes, compensate owners of damaged property and ensure restoration of electricity without further delay. They also demand unreserved apologies from the company for making them pass through nightmare.

  • Darkness envelopes Nigeria

    Darkness envelopes Nigeria

    Two years after the privatisation of the power sector,  the country has been thrown into an unprecedented darkness. Power supply has dropped to less than 3,000 megawatts (Mw). In spite of this, the distribution companies keep slamming crazy bills on customers for electricity not supplied. With all the funds pumped into resuscitating the sector, Nigerians are wondering if the nation’s power nightmare will ever end, writes EMEKA UGWUANYI.

    Poor power supply seems to have defied solution.The various initiatives to revive the ailing sector have failed. While the government alleges sabotage as the cause of its continued failure to fix the sector, some stakeholders blame it all on the government’s insincerity.

    With the huge funds sunk into the sector over the years, stakeholders say the nation ought not to be talking of increased generation that doesn’t translate into supply, but rather, it should be focusing on achieving its electricity target.

    According to them, Nigeria has more than enough gas for thermal power stations. Besides, there are rivers for hydro power plants. Nigeria has more than sufficient sunshine for solar power generation, enormous coal deposits and wind, among other sources of power generation. Yet, this country has so far failed to diversify her sources of power generation.

    When former President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed duties in 1999, he tried to sanitise the sector. He set up a technical committee headed by the Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, to find what was wrong with the utility firm and also gave the committee a 4,000 megawatts (Mw) generation target. Although the committee claimed it accomplished the target, its claim could not be matched with the reality on ground, as darkness persists. Even the creation of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), which has 10 medium power plants with a cumulative output capacity of over 4500Mw by the Obasanjo administration couldn’t break the jinx. The projects are still ongoing, eight years after Obasanjo left office.

    When the late President Umaru Yar’Adua took over in 2007, he declared emergency in the power sector with generation target of 5,000Mw.

    Unfortunately, that target, again, was never  achieved. It was not until President Goodluck Jonathan stepped in that the Federal Government embarked upon a transformation agenda for the sector with the launch of the Power Sector Reform Roadmap in 2010.

    Some of the highlights of the roadmap include generation targets of 5,000Mw by April 2011,  14,000Mw by December 2013, and 40,000Mw by 2020 with investment of at least $3.5 billion per year for the next 10 years. It also includes the implementation of the National Gas Master plan to ensure 1,636 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscfd) of gas to actualise the 2011 power generation target, removal of obstacles to private sector investment in the sector, ensuring substantial reduction in the government’s funding and managerial direction of significant elements in the electricity value chain as well as reforming the fuel-to-power sector and privatisation, among others.

    Jonathan’s administration reinforced commitment to implementing the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005, which set the rules for transition to private sector control, such as the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into 18 successor companies, the establishment of appropriate tariff regime and gas pricing to encourage private investors to take over the sector in line with the law.

    The unbundling and eventual sale of  PHCN’s successor companies as well as handover of the assets to the preferred bidders on November 1, 2013, marked the completion of the privatisation of the sector. The exercise came with high expectations from electricity consumers who thought the end to their plight had come.But they were wrong.

    Despite the inauguration of the NIPP 750Mw Olorunsogo 11 Power Station in Ogun State and 220Mw from the rehabilitated unit six turbine of the Egbin Power Plc in Lagos this year, generation has not exceeded 4,000Mw. Generated power has been falling since March. On March 8, generation reportedly stood at 3,505 Mw and dropped to 2,747.45Mw by March 11 and as at April 13, it was 2988Mw for a nation of over 170 million people.

    Besides, the transmission network compounds the problems. Sometimes, the transmission worsens the power supply problem as it becomes so fragile that it is unable to wheel 3,000Mw. Under such situation, if that capacity is exceeded, it results in system collapse, throwing the entire nation into darkness. There is no reported case of system collapse yet the country is in darkness.

     

    Consumers cry out

    The electricity supply, according to consumers who spoke to The Nation, has never been this bad. And the power firms are not giving reasons for the poor service delivery. Many residential customers are alleging rip-off by service providers whom they accuse of taking them for granted. As far as they are concerned, there is no difference between the defunct PHCN and the new utility owners. Most of them even said life was better under PHCN.

    They said power supply had dropped below what it was when it was under the government’s management. They also lamented the continued upward review of tariff, which they are compelled to pay despite not getting electricity supply.

    The Managing Director, Zion Food Palace, a small scale enterprise that runs a cold room where chicken, turkey and other food materials are kept, Mrs. Olabisi Akinbola, said her business located at Idimu, Egbeda, Lagos, has suffered untold losses.

    She said: “We don’t use light for up to three hours in a day. Many times, we get light once in three days. Sometimes, they (power firm) bring the light in the night after we had closed from business and they take the light before we resume the following day.

    “We usually buy between 15 litres and 20 litres of diesel every day and we cannot put on the generator for the entire day because that will kill my business. As a result of this, several times, many of the fishes and turkeys get spoilt because the generator cannot freeze the food as power supplied from the public utility. As I am talking to you, my shop smells of spoiled fishes and turkeys.

    “Out of the five deep freezers that we have, we only use two to run the business because of the power situation. We use generator for at least five hours in a day. We are losing money seriously because the business that is run with five deep freezers loaded with fishes and turkeys has now been reduced to two.

    “You can only imagine the difference between the sales with five freezers and two freezers. When you calculate the sales and the expenses every month, you will only appreciate the losses. I am considering closing shop for now until things improve because  putting the business into operation is not worth it.”

    In spite of all these, officials of the power firm still bring ‘crazy’ bills to her. She showed  our reporter her latest electricity bill dated April 15 which showed that she was billed N83, 370.43.

    Many residential customers, who spoke to The Nation, said the rip-off from the electricity distribution companies is unbearable. Some of the customers said their bills rose by over 100 per cent in one month (between March and April). One of them, Mr. Jide Olumide, showed our reporter his bills for March and April. In March, he was billed N5, 000 while he was slammed with N11, 000 in April. He was at Electricity Distribution Company’s office to lay his complaint. He queried the bill because his consumption has not changed; besides, he was not getting supply.

    Industrial consumers, especially manufacturers are also groaning.The Chairman, Electronics and Electrical Sectorial Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Reginald Odiah, said  his members depend on generators to power their operations. He said: “On the average, members of the association spend over N2 billion per week on self-power generation. This translates to between N72 billion and N75 billion annually.”

    Also, a source at Cadbury Nigeria Plc told The Nation that the company uses more than 4,000 litres of diesel daily. This, according to the source, translates to over N480, 000 per day to provide the diesel for its power generating sets. “Currently, diesel is sold at between N120 and N150 per litre. That is the magic of our own brand of deregulation that has seen consistent increase in the price of the product.  So, on the average, the company spends over N15 million per month, to run the production process,” he said.

    In different parts of the country, particularly Lagos, angry youths had beaten up workers of the distribution companies when they come to distribute bills or disconnect them from the grid. Their anger is understandable. Such customers hardly get an hour power supply in a day while officials of the power firms come around with ladder to embarrass them by cutting and carting away their electricity cables.

    Just last month, Ikeja residents marched in protest to the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company’s head office in Alausa, Ikeja over poor power supply and outrageous billing. Brandishing placards that read: No Crazy Bills!, they said the PHCN was giving them crazy bills, extorting them and not giving them electricity. The residents asked PHCN to provide them with prepaid meters and threatened to burn down the building if their demands were not met.

    An economist and public analyst, Mr. Henry Boyo, said there had not been any improvement despite the privatisation of the sector. He said: “We haven’t seen much of improvement in power supply. What is equally worrisome is that after selling the distribution companies, we ended up with a loss of N400 billion. The same group of people to whom we sold the distribution and generation companies and made a loss of N400 billion incurred from the allowances and outstanding payments to contractors.

    ‘’After all that, we suddenly find that they don’t have the money to run the companies efficiently. So, what do we do?  We call them together again and say okay we give you soft loan in spite of the fact that we ended up with N400 billion in debts as a result of selling the distribution companies.”

     

    The issues

    Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said lack of gas supply to the thermal plants is a major challenge. Besides, he said due to pipeline vandalism, even part of the available gas meant for power plants is shut in. He also lamented that power plants that use gas as fuel account for over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s power generation and the situation is worsened by the fact that on conception of most of the those plants especially the NIPP, gas supply to them were not considered. This   made it very difficult or impossible to get gas there.

    He said: “When the NIPP was conceived, there was no concomitant development and deployment of gas infrastructure to supply gas to the plants to power the turbines and they are all gas-fired turbines. Another complex area is the stealing and vandalisation of transformers.”

    Inadequate metering of customers is another issue. Many customers are billed on estimation, which is responsible for the outrageous billing commonly called ‘crazy bills.’ Even some customers who have analog meters complain that their meters are no longer read by workers of the distribution companies who now prefer handing out estimated bills to reading the meters and getting accurate bills. The anomaly was worsened by the new owners of the power assets as they now buy the power they distribute to customers and endeavour as much as possible to recover their cost and add some margins. Because of the shortcomings in the system resulting in commercial and collection losses, the distribution companies now slam uncalculated bills on those who don’t operate prepaid meters.

    Nebo agrees no less. He said: “There are technical losses from generation to transmission, to distribution, and to supply; some of the losses are due to faulty equipment and ageing equipment and infrastructure, and some because of non-optimisation of the route for delivery of electricity. The most serious losses are commercial losses, but we have reduced technical losses substantially, so technically we are not losing a lot but commercially much.”

    According to him, many Nigerians get power but are reluctant to pay for it.

    While noting that the distribution companies are not collecting enough money, he said they are in the habit of giving customers estimated bills, which have nothing to do with technical and scientific reality. “That is why we must meter everybody. The meters we have are not smart meters. It is only recently that we started getting smart meters. So, it was possible for them to override those meters and that is why we are moving to smart meters. That way, you can only consume as much as you can afford. If you are consuming so much, you learn to shut down your air conditioner when you go to work as well as lightings that are not being used, among others,” he said.

    The minster said the government is moving to solve all these problems. According to him, between November 1, 2013 and this month, the government discovered that the commercial losses were huge.

    He said: “Power sector cannot guard against these losses without metering. Less than 60 per cent of Nigerians are metered. How do you collect your money? So commercial losses are huge and, unfortunately, somebody has to pay for it. “And unfortunately again, it is those who are paying that are penalised to pay for those who are not paying.”

     

    What should be done?

    The Managing Director of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Mr Babs Omotehinwa, said: “Nigeria should also look at how other countries solved their power problems and achieved stability. I think the first thing to realise is that in many countries the key for power is diversification. For example, Russia has the highest gas reserves in the world. It has more than 10 times what we have in Nigeria but Russia produces less than 25 per cent of its power from gas. It produces power from other sources such as nuclear, hydro and coal, among others. And you need to diversify your sources of power because you cannot rely solely on one. Also in China, one hydro power plant produces over 20,000Mw. In terms of hydro, we can generate a lot as a country. I think the diversification of power sources is important to us. We cannot be producing gas thinking we can generate all our power from gas, transport it either by pipeline or by overland because you will just lose so much. Nigeria is so blessed that we have hydro, coal, solar and wind, so the diversification is very important.”

    He said the problem with Nigeria is not the non-availability of gas but how to quickly make it available. “Our challenge is how quickly can we explore, produce and make it available with the infrastructure that will make it available to the domestic facilities. “So, when you are looking at the requirement for either power or petrochemical, it is not because the gas is not in the ground but our challenges are that we need money, the right system to be able to explore them, to produce, transport to those facilities and those are the work that need to be on bloc, which we call non-technical issues.”

    The President/Chief Executive Officer, General Electric, Nigeria, Dr Lazarus Angbazo, said: “In the gas sector, I must say gas is one of the biggest challenges the country has. With 187 tcf proven gas reserves, and ranked number eight in the world, the country in theory is awash with gas but this gas is associated gas. Therefore, to collect this gas, clean it up and transport it to the point of use involves a lot of investment and because of this, gas is not available. So, Nigeria is both gas rich and gas poor. It is not available because the owners of the gas, the oil companies, didn’t invest.”

    He also said  natural gas can be supplied to these power plants through virtual liquefied natural gas (LNG).

    Nebo has however assured that the Federal Government is working on energy efficiency policy to diversify the sources of power supply. He said many distribution companies are also looking at embedded generation (off-grid generation) to complement whatever comes from the national grid. He said the government also has plans to commence electronic monitoring of pipelines and other facilities channelling gas to power plants across the country to curb the challenges of incessant pipeline vandalism in addition to  deploying soldiers, naval men and the men of the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, among others to stop vandalism.

    He said the challenges though not insurmountable, are worsened by the fact that 70 per cent of the total power generation comes from gas-fired turbine and 30 per cent hydro.

    “We have far larger installed capacity than the power we are giving out because of gas supply and that is being taken care of. More forces are being deployed. Electronic gadgets are being installed to ensure that at any point of disruption our security forces will know and move to forestall it,” he said.

     

  • Darkness hurts

    Darkness hurts

    There is a lot to grieve over in Dutse, Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Residents raise millions of naira and hand it over to the local power distribution firm, yet, they often have no power. GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports

    Darkness falls everywhere but in Dutse Baupuma, a community in the FCT, it brings with it dreadful realities. In hot weather, no one sleeps comfortably, and this has a toll on their health.

    That is not all.

    There is also a sense of exploitation, if not outright fraud.

    How?

    The residents of Dutse Baupuma in Bwari Area Council said they were told to raise millions of naira with which the distribution firm would procure just what was  needed to supply them power.

    They did, managing to contribute N5m, which they allegedly gave to the firm. Their challenges remain, though. No power. No hope.

    They have had enough and are on the verge of marching on the local power distribution company in charge of the area.

    The residents urged the firm to fulfil the promise they made to the people on provision of constant electricity for the community.

    The residents, on the verge of a protest to the power distribution company, said that towards the end of last year, circulars were distributed in the community directing residents to contribute N5,000 per house for the purchase of a new power transformer and cables to boost supply.

    According to Mr. Simon Chukwuma, a resident of the community, residents of over 1,000 houses contributed the said amount totalling over N5 million.

    Chukwuma said since the contribution was made, power to the community remained epileptic and nothing much has been done to justify the money collected from members of the community.

    “Many of us are aggrieved because it seems that the people that promised us constant power supplies were not sincere. Imagine, when they came to us to urge us to contribute the money, they promised that they would ensure that we have light every day, because, they will get another transformer for us and replace the electric wires on the poles.

    •A power transformer
    •A power transformer

    “Although, they brought the transformer, they did not do anything about the wires that had been on the poles for ages. As a result of this, fuses on the transformer get spoilt on a daily basis and when they spoil, they want us to beg them before they rectify it, after we have paid for the services.

    “Since this year, the way we have been suffering of power failure is something we never experienced even before we contributed money for the power distribution company to rectify the electricity situation in the community. After each household in the community had struggled to pay N5, 000, we are still suffering. This is what we call corruption and it has to be corrected,” he said.

    Mrs. Gloria Alhassan, another resident who spoke with our reporter explained that the way things are going in the community,  members of staff of the power distribution company do not care about the well-being of the residents.

    Since the beginning of this year, light will go off for up to three days and when restored, it will not last for up to five hours.

    “It is just about three days ago that the power supply has been stable. But, before now, it was as if the power distribution company had forgotten about our community. The meat and soup we put in the freezer get spoilt on a daily basis, because of prolonged power failure. Despite the money we contributed, we are experiencing power failure more than any community in Abuja,” she said.

    Commenting on the issue, a staff of the power distribution company, who preferred anonymity because he was not competent to speak on the matter, explained that there may be some electricity problems which have been thwarting the efforts of the distribution company to ensure stable power supply in the community, adding that it is not the decision of the company to make residents of the community be in darkness. He promised that the problem will soon be rectified.

  • Akokwa is in darkness

    Akokwa is in darkness

    GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of Imo State is a man of the people. He has endeared himself to the people of the state through his policies which are in favour of the masses.

    I can boldly say that the governor will be re-elected to govern the state. His noble achievements will make this possible.

    But there is one matter I want the governor to attend to. I will appeal to him to give us electricity in Akokwa. This is very important.

    For the past 20 years, the town has been in darkness. Nothing is working as a result of this problem.

    If Akokwa is bailed out of darkness, the people of the town will not forget the people’s governor who has made life comfortable for his people.

     

    Ohuabunwa Chuwkuma,

    Umuopia, Akokwa, Imo State.

  • Residents lament years of paying for darkness

    Residents lament years of paying for darkness

    Residents of Idimu-Shasha-Akowonjo live in utter darkness. They only had interjections of ‘light flashes’ supplied by the Bolounpe Power Station in the last 10 years. Since then, life and business in the areas have been one long stretch of slow and dreary darkness and stillness, reports Assistant Editor, Investigations, JOKE KUJENYA

    Many of the residents wanted to talk at the same time.  “I was an automobile mechanic for seven years, now I am a petty trader”, said a male resident called Waidi.

    “I had a hairdressing salon, now I am an apprentice to another woman in another location, far away from here,” said a lady called Eunice. She added, “My salon used to thrive but when we had no light for so long, my business collapsed”.

    “In my case”, said Mama Sola, “I was the only one in this area that used to have many grinding machines to blend whatever anyone wanted to grind such as pepper ingredients, beans for akara or moin-moin and others. Today, I have sold out all the machines since there was no light to operate my business.

    “On the business, I used three generating plants (generators) that had all packed up. Life became so hard for me. It has been terrible because government has not helped us in this area at all.”

    And there were more stories from several others in the community. The residents, numbering about 14, crammed the reporter on Wednesday, December 10 as she stood on Foursquare Road, Idimu. They faulted the Federal Government for the failed utility as well as the slow pace of work and scattered power restoration effort.

    An elder in the community, who spoke on the origin of the problem, said:”It began in 2004. At the time, they had someone called ‘special base commander’. We were invited to be part of the project to give us light in our area. So, we joined without a second thought. After all, it was going to be for our good. That was during the Olusegun Obasanjo tenure.

    “We were then told that the contract was awarded at N1.28 billion. I was one of those assigned to supervise it for the benefit of our community. So, I took it as a duty. And for the next three years, when the engineer assigned to work on it took some soil from a borehole dug at the location that they were taking them to Japan, China and Germany, for ‘soil test’, we never heard anything again. Those of us in this community got fed up with the whole thing and retired back to our normal lives.

    “Then, when the late President Yar’Adua came into power in 2008, we were told initially that the contract would be re-awarded. And even as civilians, we were posed to ask questions about what happened to the initial N1.28 billion for the project that was not done. We demanded to know what happened, but nobody was willing to listen to us. Even the then Business Manager (BM), Akowonjo Exchange, Engineer Raji, told us in confidence he had no answer, that he was as puzzled as us all.

    “Even another BM called Mohammed, who later came on board was as lost as the community residents. There were even other BMs such as Engineer Abayomi who was the one there when the project actually started; he too, had no answers.

    “But when they noticed that we persisted in our investigations, we were directed to one Engineer Olotu, Chairman, Niger-Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC). But the long-and-short of our prying into what we considered very crucial was that, we ended up being tossed back-and-forth.

    “However, the NIPP pile of hogwash was that while we were told the project was only for Idimu, some engineers from Alausa, Nwosu and Balogun, early this year, came to test the lines. They then called some of us community leaders and informed us that some of the materials used for the plant are ‘deaths-waiting-to-explode’.

    “On March 14, 2012, the whole of this community experienced a terrible burning at Bolounpelu Feeder Station near College in Ikotun behind the Synagogue, where we are being supplied borrowed electricity”.

    It exploded due to the load on it. The two panels supplying residents with electricity burnt an operator working on it beyond recognition as he tried to switch on the light.

    By then, they had changed their name to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and Engineer Akamnonu was then the CEO. So, after the explosion, he said it was impossible for them to replace the two panels because they cost N500 million as at that time; that they could only afford one for N250 million.

    “Akamnonu said the only available option was to manage with load-shedding. And that was how they started giving us lights one day on or off. Sometimes, we could even be off for three to four days because we are not Bolounpelu feeder’s first priority residents. So, they may even decide not to give us light on our ‘on’ days.

    “Sadly, as at Tuesday, December 23, officials of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) who visited the area told Idimu community residents they still have to wait much longer. They kept telling us that once the energy plant is completed, we would enjoy uninterrupted power supply. But for now, we are suffering.

    Another resident, who spoke in confidence, told the reporter that: “Most of those contractors only front for the President as we later discovered. I am not a government worker, a politician and neither do I belong to any party; I’m just a concerned community member.

    “So, when some politicians came to woo me, I told them no, that all I want is the development of my community. And they left and had never returned to me. I even told one of them they are the people in government sabotaging these laudable projects for their personal benefits. He only pretended not to hear me”.

    Calm but angry at the whole shenanigan is Alhaji  Olatunde Badmus, 64, Chairman, Community Development Association (CDA), Sunshine Estate, Idimu, Lagos who moved to Idimu in 2002, said: “Since I moved in here 12 years ago, I packed into a community in darkness. I was told they had been in darkness for nine months. But I shared three months with them. Then, the electrification of this area was awarded to DFRI. Later, DFRI allegedly transferred it to a woman called Mrs. Tetede, an ex-NEPA official. She left the works uncompleted. It was members of this community that completed what she left when we went to the Mines and Power, Lagos office, around 2003 to know what was going on.

    “We were in that terrible trend when in 2004; Obasanjo came with the NIPP and said they would give us one in Idimu. By then, I was the Chairman, Transformer Users of Idimuland. So, I went with our king , Oba Abdulazeez Olayemi Dada-Aluko, the Onidimu of Idimu, went to the Air Force Base to meet with Commander Balogun, who was the then Air Force Commander. He then gave us the portion of land on which the plant was sited along Foursquare Road. The contract was then awarded to Engineer Okonkwo of Njonas Engineering Firm. They later began work, dug a borehole, brought our specimen which they said they needed for soil test.

    “They said the soil test will enable them to know the type of plant to install. We were told they were taking the soils to Japan, China and Germany. For almost three years or so, we didn’t hear anything. Years later, life is worse for us that it was back then.

    “Our worst three years have been from 2010 to 2012. According to records I kept, the number of hours of electricity supply given to us in Idimu was 1, 477 hours for the three years. That means for the three years, we didn’t have light for up to two months.

    “Economy collapsed in this area more than the entire Nigeria put together. Businesses collapsed. Welders, electricians, auto-mechanics, all became motorcycle operators. Tailors and fashion designers became petty traders or sales persons working for others. This is why our area has nearly become so empty because many went to other sides of Lagos to seek business and populate okada business.

    “And because bills kept coming, those who do not have metres were given estimated or coded bills. As they explained, coded bills are done each month after they had taken count of consumed energy from Bolounpelu from a meter at Ejigbo through which they read Bolounpelu injection station. That is what they also call crazy bills.

    Ourreporter made several attempts to meet with either the CEO, IKEDC, Engineer Biodun Ajifowobade or the MD, Alausa, Ikeja, Engineer Balogun through the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Pekun Adeyanju. He asked for questions to be sent to his e-mail. He later informed our reporter that the agency to speak on the issue is NDPHC and forwarded the contact name of the Lagos PRO, Mr. Yakubu Lawal.

    On seeing the questions forwarded to the NDPHC by Adeyanju, Lawal sent a text to the reporter and said he had forwarded the e-mail to their PRO, Abuja office, Emeka.

    Later, the Abuja NDPHC, PRO asked that a correspondent from Abuja visit their 17, Nile Street in Maitama, Abuja. Two days later, one of The Nation’s correspondents in Abuja visited him and he declined an interview, claiming that his boss was not in the country. He, however, asked the correspondent to return for the interview in January 2015.

    However, contact with another top official at the NDPHC, who said he is not officially competent to speak with the media, said the actual agency to power the plant is IKEDC and not NDPHC. He said that the plant had been handed over to IKEDC for some years and whatever failure is being experienced by the communities where the plants are not working should be addressed by them.

    About 4:36 p.m. on Thursday, December 20h, this reporter called Engineer Asha for his comments on the issue. He simply said: “You can contact the PRO, IKEDC, Pekun Adeyanju. We have been told not to speak with the media and hung up the phone”.

    The reporter then returned to the Idimu/Shasha/Akonwonjo on Wednesday, December 24h, sadly, despite the Christmas celebrations being lights-soaked, the district was in utter darkness save for electricity being supplied by several generating plants in different homes.

    Many of the streets were dark. Children limited their plays to the front of the houses. Life was slow and dry.

    The Nation reporter also went in search of Njonas, the engineering firm that handled most of the projects; at their 9, Adeola Raji Avenue in Atunrase Gbagada, area of Lagos, but on asking to see Engineer Okonkwo, the reporter was turned back at the entrance that the man is rarely in Lagos.

    And as of Friday, December 27, Olatunde informed the reporter that he just got informed by Engr Balogun of IKEDC, Lagos, that the company is yet to purchase the ‘relay’, one of the materials needed to make the plant supply electricity to the Idimu-Shasha-Akonwonjo areas.

    “This means, we are automatically going to start another New Year in utter darkness”, lamented Olatunde.

    QUOTE

    Economy collapsed in this area more than the entire Nigeria put together. Businesses collapsed. Welders, electricians, auto-mechanics, all became motorcycle operators. Tailors and fashion designers became petty traders or sales persons working for others. This is why our area has nearly become so empty because many went to other sides of Lagos to seek business and populate okada business…And because bills kept coming; those who do not have metres were given estimated or coded bills

     

  • Living in darkness

    Living in darkness

    •AfDB report that 57% of people in West Africa don’t have access to electricity is depressing

    The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) revelation regarding the percentage of people living without access to electricity in West Africa is startling. The bank, in its “West Africa Monitor Quarterly” for the second quarter of 2014 report says that more than 57 per cent of the people living in the sub-region live in darkness. The percentage reportedly approximated the average for sub-Saharan Africa in a global community where the minimum power denial percentage is 18 per cent.

    In a world where there is hardly any economic activity that can be done without power, it is shameful that a large percentage of people in the sub-region don’t have access to electricity.

    The breakdown of population with access to power in some countries of the sub-region, according to the report includes: Niger – eight percent; Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau have 15 percent each. Ghana has 70 per cent of her people having access to power while Cape Verde has the highest percentage of 87.

    As usual, Nigeria is found wanting in the report even though Professor Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power, reportedly revealed sometime ago at the 15th Herbert Macaulay Lecture organised by the Engineering Faculty of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, that less than 50 per cent of Nigerians currently have access to electricity. Shamefully, this is reportedly seven per cent lower than the West African average reported by AfDB.

    Surprisingly, the countries in the sub-region have diverse endowments through which they can source for stable power but have either failed to take advantage of them or are underutilising the natural blessings. For instance, hydro power with all the waterways across the sub-region has an estimated potential of 25,000 megawatts; yet only 16 per cent has reportedly been exploited. Also, several in-country lakes and dams hold promise for renewable energy development. The sub-region is blessed with good weather that could help tremendously in renewable energy sources good for generating wind and solar power.

    The governments of countries in the sub-region definitely know the importance of power and yet could not muster the required political will to make it accessible to the greatest number of their people whether in the rural or urban areas. For instance, the Nigerian government, despite its huge expenditure in the power sector, is still contending with inadequate generation capacity and unreliable/expensive service and irregular power supply, amongst others.

    Because of low electrification and poor rural infrastructure generally, there have been astronomical wide disparities in access to electricity between rural areas and urban centres in the sub-region. The report says that in Ghana, for example, 87 per cent of urban dwellers have access to electricity, compared with the five per cent in rural areas. The situation in Nigeria might be worse.

    The AfDB report connotes serious backwardness for the economic and technological drive of Nigeria and other countries in the sub-region. Nigeria in particular has a lot to do in view of her status in the continent. Electricity was not epileptic at a point in the country’s history. Apparently, corruption has eaten deep into the entire system because this is the only thing that can explain the huge gap between the funds committed into the power sector, especially in the last decade, and the output from the sector. It is curious that all we can celebrate today is less than 5,000 megawatts in spite of the investments in the sector..

    If this sad trend continues, it is doubtful whether Nigeria will ever attain the universal energy access target of 2030. But one thing is certain, if Nigeria gets it right, it will rub off on other West African countries.

  • Fashola: How lawyers, others connive to throw courts into darkness

    Fashola: How lawyers, others connive to throw courts into darkness

    Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and  other lawyers  have asked that a mechanism be put in place to curb  the justice delay in the state.

    The governor lamented incessant power outage in the high courts, noting that it contributes to justice delay.

    Fashola spoke at a conference on “Delay in Justice Administration-Beyond the rules and the law” organised by the state Ministry of Justice and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.

    Fashola accused some officials of Eko Electricity  Distribution Company of cutting off power supply to the courts at  9 am and  not returning it until about 5pm.

    The governor said some lawyers and litigants connive with public officials to ensure power outage in the courts to delay proceedings.

    The governor noted that lawyers are trained to assist their clients, and that they should be honest enough to restrain  their clients from going to court.

    “What is the value in a judge sitting for hours over a matter that is not actionable only for the lawyer to be filing frivolous applications?” he asked.

    Governor Fashola also noted that the architectural designs of the court rooms have also constituted delays in administration of justice.

    He noted that whenever there is power outage in the courts, there is nothing that can be done again.

    “In the old court rooms, there was cross ventilation and day light in the court rooms. So, there was  no disruption of proceeding as a result of power outage.

    “I think we should start looking into designing courtrooms that would have cross ventilation and day lights,” he said.

    The Attorney-General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, noted that lawyers and litigants are key players that can either speed up or slow down  adjudication.

    Other factors which could also delay administration of justice include the judges, court buildings and equipment, court rules of procedure, court staff and registry, enforcement and custodial facilities among others.

    He said all these factors determine the quality and pace of adjudication.

    To reduce trial time, he said the state established the Multidoor Courthouse and the inclusion of Alternate Dispute Resolution(ADR) in the rules of Civil Procedure.

    Ipaye said frontloading also stemmed the influx of frivolous cases, adding that cases filed at the High Court of Lagos State has reduced  from 6,696 in 2011 to 6,584 in 2012 and to 6,043 last year.

    He said the number of cases which  achieve early settlement has increased due to ADR and the establishment of fast track courts.

    The Solicitor-General Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN) said the reduction in delay in justice administration would be better appreciated when  the advantages gained by the society is considered, noting that litigation precludes resort to violence and circumvention for self-help.

    Pedro suggested a four-way approach to eradicate the delay.

    He  suggested that a week in each quarter of the year be declared a Law conference week for judges and lawyers to find solution to the problem.

    The Solicitor-General said in criminal justice system, the Inspector- General of Police (IGP) should be made to issue directives that no policeman involved in criminal investigation is posted outside a state without clearance from the Attorney- General.Also, he said there should be early fixing of trial dates to limit time for interlocutory proceedings and case management.

    A former Attorney-General/ Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mr. Yemi Osinbajo, suggested that the sittings at  Court of Appeal should be enlarged to accomodate not less than five panels sitting simultaneously to ensure the speedy dispensation of justice.