The dismal state of power supply in the country was at the centre of a book launch in Lagos. Titled: The Developments in the Nigerian Electric Power System (1973-1998), it will serve as reference material to present and future adminstrations in the country, reports AKINOLA AJIBADE
When Chief Philip Asiodu mounted the podium to deliver his speech, the audience who converged on the Institute of International Affairs(NIIA), Lagos for a book launch, listened with rapt attention.
As a retired ‘super’Permanent Secretary and former Economic Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, there was perhaps no one among the guests more qualified to speak on the happenings in the nation’s power sector in the last 26 years.
The elder statesman cleared his throat and began his speech but midway into his presentation, power went off, causing embarrassment to all the guests.
Two other speakers on the occasion suffered similar fate as their speeches were punctuated by intermittent power failures.
Given the importance of the event- the launching of a book titled: The Developments in the Nigerian Electric Power System(1973-1998), co-authored by Lawrence Amu and Foluseke Somolu , the power outages was seen as a big disappointment by guests that graced the occasion.
This is because successive governments have spent huge sums of money to fix the sector, but to no avail. Instead of having stable electricity, the country has been witnessing erratic power supply.
Little wonder that speakers, at the event, took their turns to x-ray the problems in the sector as contained in the book, while at the same time, proffer solutions to them.
Asiodu, who was the Chairman of the occasion, said the problems in the electricity sector are both individual and institutional.
He said while some of the problems are committed by individuals, others come from institutions of government such as the ministries and offices in charge of procurement and contracts.
He said selfishness, on the part of some government officials contributed greatly to the problems in the sector.
He said turbines are not working optimally, coupled with the fact that the government was unable to wheel gas to them for electricity generation.
He said the questionable status of the turbines brought into the country during the era of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN) and poor gas supply was responsible for their low output.
Asiodu said a concept called ‘’ Emergency Power Turbines’ was developed during Obasanjo’s regime to misappropriate funds.
He said: ’’By this, people collected money, travelled abroad to buy second-hand turbines and come back to say that they have paid for new turbines. When this happens, the issue of collecting, for instance, 15 per cent or more as bribe is certain.”
According to him, the government approached notable institutions abroad to carry out a study on where thermal and hydro plants would be cited in the country to ensure optimal generation of electricity.
The report, he said, was yet to be found years after it was conducted, adding the country must free itself of corruption before the power sector can improve.
Asiodu, a former permanent secretary under the regime of former Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon (rtd), said faulty privatisation programme embarked upon by President Goofluck Jonathan, was part of the problems bedevilling the sector.
He said the hopes of many Nigerians were dashed, following the inability of the power generation companies (GENCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs) to improve power supply two years after the Federal Government sold the assets of the defunct PHCN to them.
He said: “The government chose a wrong model when it sold the assets of PHCN to private investors in 2011. The issue of what we can do and capable of doing as regard the sector was not taken into consideration by the outgoing government. Instead of the government to look for people who can do the job and further deploy them into areas where they are needed to achieve productivity, it did not.’’
He said politics took over the management of the power sector after President Obasanjo left office in 2007, stressing that the development had resulted in poor electricity generation in the country.
Asiodu said the country generates less than 6, 000 megawatts (Mw) of electricity for its over 170 million population.
‘’The electricity megawatts is not enough to meet the needs of the 170 million population. Many that are out of jobs today would have been employed if there is reasonable power supply. The industries would operate well, expand their capacities and employ more people. But this could not happen because the country does not produce enough electricity to drove the economy,”he said.
Also, Amu, one of the authors of the book, said there was the need to revisit systems and practices of truth, honesty, and competence that existed in the country before in order to move the electricity sector forward.
He said planning was at the heart of the sector, urging the in-coming government to plan and implement policies to avoid mistakes made by the previous governments in the power sector.
He said the book chronicled developments in the sector vis-a-vis the policies formulated by the government to facilitate its growth, adding that it would help present and future governments to address the problems besetting the industry.
Professor Frank Okafor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) said poor infrastructure was inhibiting the process of the power sector, arguing that failure of the government to address the problems means the country would continue to experience irregular power supply.
Okafor, a lecturer in Electrical and Electronics, said the sector is battling with obsolete equipment, such as transformers, transmission substations and others, advising the government to replace them with new ones.
He lamented that the country has not been able to provide laboratories that can be used to test electrical equipment since 80s, adding that the development is affecting the sector.
He said: “ There is no brand of 30KVA transformer that can be tested in Nigeria. There was a facility for testing the equipment in the 80s and 90s, but today, there is nothing like that. This, among other problems hinder the progress of the sector. How can a company distribute electricity effectively when the equipment used in providing such services are either not working or obsolete?”
The Chief Executive Officer, Sahara Power Company, Kola Adesina, urged power firms to put in place measures to improve power generation.
Adesina, whose firm bought Egbin Power Plant, in addition to owning Ikeja Electric (IE), a power distribution company, appealed to the government to give attention to gas production.
He urged the in-coming government of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to prioritise to gas production/ distribution to enable turbines generate to improve electricity supply. Another problem, Adesina said the new government must tackle is high tarrifs, noting that there has been no correlation between power supply and tarrifs given consumers.
