Two years after President Goodluck Jonathan had promised to stabilise power supply, Nigerians still groan in darkness. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the effects of the erratic power supply on the socio-economic life.
The quantum of power consumed in a country by the citizens is considered a good indicator of the country’s socio-economic performance. Erratic power supply is perhaps, the greatest paradox of life in Nigeria, a country blessed with various sources of energy, including crude oil, natural gas, hydro power, coal and solar energy. The blackout is unprecedented. Business enterprises rely on generator 24 hours daily to power their machines. Those that cannot afford extra budget for diesel have closed shop and laid off their workers.
The crux of the matter are the inadequate generation, inefficient transmission and distribution of power. Nigeria’s installed power generation capacity of 6,000 mega watts is grossly inadequate to cater for the needs of over 140 million people.
Former Minister of Power Professor Bart Nnaji has attributed the problem of power outages to inadequate gas supply to thermal power plants. He said the gas supply to these plants is one of the major problems in the power sector.
Investigations reveal that four power stations are currently losing 977.5mega watts to non-availability of gas. For instance, the plant built by the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) at Olorunsogo loses 337.5mw. The second station at Olrunsogo owned by PHCN currently loses 152mw due to gas supply shortage. Similarly, the NIPP, Sapele Station loses 112mw; PHCN Geregu Station, 276mw and PHCN Ugheli station, 100mw. It was gathered that some power stations lack gas supply infrastructure while those that have gas supply facilities do not have gas to fire the plants.
Apart from gas supply constraint, the Olorunsogo Power Plant is not in good shape. The N30 billion plant with installed capacity of 304 works in fits of its eight turbines. Six have broken down.
The project, which was commissioned in 2007, worked for three years. Then, the turbines stopped functioning. Other complaints were lack of spare parts. The operating manuals were in Mandarin without English translation. The plant was built by a Chinese firm. Nigerians running the plant spoke of their frustration at the hands of the Chinese, who were to teach them how to maintain the plants. The Nigerian team could also not access the agreement to know their responsibilities.
Amid controversy over gas shortage to fire local plants, the Federal Government has entered into agreement to supply Ghana between 80 and 123 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to power its generating plants.
The agreement to supply gas to Ghana was entered into by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) about 12 years ago as part of its commitment to West Africa Gas Pipeline Project (WAGPP) as directed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. But he made it clear that the project was subject to satisfactory supply to the domestic market, including the power plants.
Experts in the sector have criticised the government for exporting Nigeria’s gas to Ghana to shore up her power generation capability and also boost the country’s industrial sector to the detriment of Nigerian economy. But the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison -Madueke, countered by saying that Nigeria has about 150 million cubic feet per day surplus supply potential, which she said could add 500mw to the current generating capacity on the national grid.
The minister explained said: “Based on our ongoing supply development effort. We expect to have over 2.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas supply destined specifically to the power sector, supporting significant additional capacity by 2014. By 2020, we would be looking at a a supply capacity of about 10 billion cubic feet per day for the power sector, in line with Mr President’s target of 40,000mw”. The NIPP that was conceptualised as a fast track project to make up for the shortfall in the nation’s power need was mired in controversy and avoidable delays. The project suffered a three-year halt as a result of the House of Representatives’ probe of $16billion allegedly spent on power projects by the Obasanjo regime. The probe necessitated the suspension of the funding NIPP projects by the late Yar’Adua Administration. The effects of the suspension include the huge variation costs of the projects; increase in compensation paid for acquired land and accumulated demurrage.
A lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Frank Okafor, has identified underfunding, policy inconsistency and corruption as factors responsible for unstable power supply in the country.
Okafor said: “We have not spent enough on power supply. We have tried to tell lies on what we spent. During the late Yar’Adua’s regime, it was claimed $16 billion was spent. Sources said it was $6.3 billion . This was later corroborated by the Accountant-General of the Federation and a panel set up by the government.
“South Africa started having problems with power supply last year. They needed 10,000 mw more. They have started implementing it. It’s going to cost them $14 billion. In our own case, the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) would cost us about $1,000,000 million per mega watts.. Compared to South Africa’s figure, ours will cost half of that.
“In the sector, money is in dollars and it costs a lot. We have to accept that first and foremost. When you have not spent enough, definitely, you would not have enough to show. I quite agree that we could have gotten more than what we have now from what we have spent.
‘We should also understand that power sector is unlike road construction where you can make use of one lane, pending the completion of construction. Power supply involves generation. Transmission, distribution and reticulation-all of them work simultaneously. If there is a shortfall in any of the four legs, then, there will be no light”.
Noting that the Federal Government promised to generate 6,000mw in 2010 and 10,000mw this year, Okafor lamented that it is still generating less than 4,000mw.
He added:“The fact is a number of the power stations are old, although there are new ones under construction. It’s like when you are building the new ones, you are more or less replacing the old ones. If you refurbish some old stations and say I have done it. Now, I have 4,000mw from it and there are two new ones being commissioned, which will add up to 6,000mw. By the time you are commissioning the new ones, two or three of the old ones have gone down. It’s like water entering a leaking tank.
“We will not be able to meet our target, unless privatisation ushers in new power plants from Independent Power Project. From new power plants, you can say this plant can give me 2.000mw for the next five years and it will be a reality. Look at Kainji dam built in 1968, if you just change a rotor there and say it will give you 2,000mw it’s a lie. An old machine remains old no matter the amount of rehabilitation or renovation. The old machines can never meet our target.
“If a developing country like Brazil can generate 100,000mw, why not Nigeria priding itself as giant of Africa>
“Already, South Africa is in Congo to build a hydro plant, which they intend to transmit through High Voltage Distribute Transmission. Nigeria lacks the capacity for implementing long-term development plans. No nation survives without long term development plans.We are almost at 2020, have you seen anything on ground to say there is plan pointing at 2020? They keep telling us that the power generation will hit over 20,000mw by 2020.
“As regards Brazil, they have a very high potential for hydro power and they took their time to train their people. They built power plants and export power to neighbouring countries.
Okafor said it is high time Nigeria considers renewable energy as panacea to incessant power outages. These renewable energy sources like solar, wind, coal, biomass and small hydro are good even though not cost effective but they should be encouraged. Nevertheless, we still need big generating plants to run our steel plants and manufacturing industries. Solar energy is good but it cannot be converted into electricity.
The erratic power supply has forced many companies to close shops and relocate to neighbouring countries. An economist, Oluwatosin Oyetayo of The Bells University, Ota, said Nigeria is not conducive for business because the entrepreneurs have to source for their own energy by spending heavily on diesel.
Oyetayo regretted that the country has lost the small-scale industries that are supposed to serve as the backbone of the economy. “They are supposed to fill in a gap in the supply chain. In the alternative, we start importing and encouraging small business to grow in other countries. Nigeria has become a dumping ground for goods produced in neighbouring countries”, she said.
A source close to the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) disclosed that 5,000 industries have closed down since 1999, due to harsh economic policies and poor infrastructure. The Kano Chapter of the association alone had lost 86 industries due to similar reason.
