The Nation Newspaper

Tag: POWER

  • BEDC restores power to Ogwashi-Uku seven years after

    Ogwashi-Uku, the headquarters of Aniocha-South Local Government area of Delta State, was aglow at the weekend with the restoration of electricity in the area, by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) after seven years of power cut from the national grid.

    According to BEDC, the power supply will be extended to all residents of Ogwashi-Uku in due course as more transformers will be installed and energised in the next few days as enumeration revalidation, network rehabilitation and safety checks continue in earnest.

    The restoration process started with a town hall meeting organised by members of Ogwashi-Ukwu D-Forum in collaboration with the management of BEDC led by the Chief State Head (Delta), Mr. Ernest Edgar, the Business Manager, Asaba Business Unit, Adekola Abiodun and his technical team, among others.

    The town hall meeting, which had in attendance delegates from the various quarters and sub-clans that make up Ogwashi- Uku and environs, was meant to brief the residents on the extent of job done so far,  which include the completion of re-enumeration in some areas, the installation of transformer statistical meters as initiated by the company at no cost to the community.

    Edgar expressed shock at the level of vandalism of the network in spite of rehabilitation work carried out by BEDC in June 2016 and pleaded with the community leaders to work with the company to educate the public on the need to protect the equipment.

    He further emphasised the need to re-orientate and sensitise the residents through safety lectures as delivered by BEDC Safety Manager, Mr. Gilbert. Nweke who enlightened the delegates on basic safety tips to be disseminated to their people in readiness for the gradual restoration of power in phases to the various areas.

    The Director-General of D-Forum Pastor Joseph T. U. Nwadiashi while acknowledging the meters, praised BEDC for keeping fate with the community in line with Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) directive after many years of waiting. He pleaded that the company should keep to its promise of ensuring that within a short period all parts of Ogwashi-uku will be supplied with electricity.

    Edgar also seized the opportunity to educate the people of Ogwashi-Uku on the NERC directive on the methodology for estimated billing, said  that individual estimated bills would be delivered to each customer based on the global readings from the statistical meters installed on each transformer feeding the respective customers connected to the same transformer.

    He explained the “Weighted Average Cluster load” approach and urged for cooperation with the enumerators currently carrying out revalidation and load audit as customers were under-stating their load capacity and in some cases out-rightly refusing access to the enumerators to assess their homes.

  • Power belongs to God!

    Text:”…..Nebuchadnezzar……was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen…….” (Daniel 4:33)

    God is not only the Ancient of days (Daniel 7:9,13,22), He is the Almighty God (Gen. 17:1). He has all powers at His command (Psalm 62:11) and gives it to whosoever He wills (Romans 13:1). He said that, “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth” (Proverbs 8:15-16). More importantly, He has power to install whosoever He wills as king and at His perogative, He can remove installed kings. When the Israelites demanded for a king, He was the One that gave them Saul the son of Kish, but when Saul went against His command, the Strength of Israel didn’t look at his penitent outlook and plea to give him another chance; He rejected, removed and replaced him in a jiffy (1Samuel 15).

    King Nebuchadnezzar was a very powerful King over Babylon. He had God’s delegated powers and authorities “… over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). One day however, King Nebuchadnezzar became self-conceited about all that God had blessed his life with and appropriated all the blessings to himself – he became so garrulous and egocentric (Daniel 4:29-31). “…….But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him” (Daniel 5:19-29) King Nebuchadnezzar was chased out of the palace like an animal because of pride but when his sense was restored, he begged God for forgiveness and was restored after many years in the forest as an animal (Daniel 4:34-37).

    It was the same with King Herod when one day, he adorned himself in royal apparel, gave an oration that made the people answer him that, “…… It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost” (Acts 12:22-23). He died like a flower that is plucked in its bloom!

    Beloved, whatever you are, who you are, where you are and the position you occupy, they are all products of God’s grace, and surely not predicated on your works (Ephesians 2:8-9). The only sustaining grace that is available to lift up, keep you standing and never allow you go down in relevance, influence and power is humility. Jesus Christ was an example of humility. Despite being God, He humbled Himself to the gruesomely end on the Cross of Calvary. On the third day God raised Him from the dead and rewarded Him with a name that is above every other names and that at the mention of His name every knee shall surrender – Halleluyah! (Phil. 2:6-11). It is based on this backdrop that Paul the Apostle admonished in Philippians 2:5 of the indispensability of having the same mind of humility like Jesus Christ. Brethren, if you don’t want the hand of God to be against you and beginning from today, kindly ascribe all glory and honor to whom it is due (God Almighty) and take off that toga of pride because it will only lead to shame (Proverbs 11:2), bring quarrels (Proverbs 13:-10), lead to destruction (Proverbs 16:18) and bring down from the lofty height like King Nebuchadnezzar (Proverbs 29:23).

    During this time of lent brethren, take stock of areas where you have been exhibiting pride, ask God for forgive you, pray for the spirit of humility, amend your ways, learn to accommodate others, extend your hand of love to all around you, live in love with everyone and pray for grace of lift up. As Jesus Christ lives, you shall be located with a testimony that will shock you and astound the world; instead of going down, you shall continue to be lifted in Jesus’ name

     

    Prayers: Father, deliver me from pride and clothe me with the garment of humility all the days of my life, in Jesus’ name.

  • Minister laments poor power supply to Abuja

    Minister laments poor power supply to Abuja

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Malam Muhammad Bello has called for an improvement in the volume of electricity supplied to Abuja to effectively power critical infrastructure.

    Bello spoke when he received the management team of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), led by the new Managing Director, Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, in his office.

    The minister, who described the 11 per cent electricity allocated to the FCT and neighboring states as grossly inadequate, called on the TCN to allocate more power to the Abuja Distribution Company (AEDC), with specific instruction that the extra power be dedicated to FCT.

    A statement by his Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, said: “Powering the city’s critical infrastructure like streetlights, hospitals, water treatment plants and waste management value chain, especially the liquid waste management, has been a big challenge with epileptic power supply.

    “We have been faced with a number of options, like going off grid. But we realise that going off grid will require was using fossil fuels and installing generators around the city; this of course affects the environment critically.

    “Really, I want you to consider some short term solutions. We need power in Abuja, not just to make the city look beautiful, but for security also.

    Bello noted the FCT administration released N500 million to the AEDC as part payment of its bills.

    Mohammed appreciated the warn reception accorded his team and promised that in collaboration with the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), TCN will consider the minister’s request for more allocation of power to the Abuja zone.

    He hinted that TCN is working on the possibility of bringing in additional power lines through Lafia in Nasarawa State, to support the Gwagwaglada and Suleja lines.

  • Power headache: Will it ever get the right pill? (II)

    Power headache: Will it ever get the right pill? (II)

    Continued from yesterday

    “Part of our problem is inadequate policy in place to back up regulations. Policy forms the bedrock upon which regulation and orders are based and their absence portends unsustainable plans and programmes”, Ogaji noted.

    She also stated that load allocation from the national grid to the 11 Discos on specific percentage is counter-productive and must be revisited, because that is the reason some of the DisCos reject the loads and some ask for more.

    Power purchase, to her, should be based on a willing seller, willing buyer basis because the DisCos have different levels of infrastructure integrity and revenue collection strength.

    Oduntan, who described pipeline vandalism as economic sabotage, noted that energy theft will continue to hamper the ability of the operators to provide electricity and will continue to hamper small scale and cottage industries.

    To enable that such businesses thrive, the government has to fight all forms of energy theft and sabotage to provide stable electricity. He called for the payment of all outstanding debts by all categories of customers and financial agreements signed by the government with power sector investors to improve the sector’s liquidity.

    Continuous and sustained investment in transmission infrastructures and access to forex by operators in the power sector is also key, if power output must improve, he added.

     

    Energy mix

    The power supply deficit is huge with about 44 per cent of the population off the national grid. Therefore, for the Energy Institute, Nigeria requires a combination of on-grid and off-grid sources of energy to meet the energy needs of its citizens.

    The Institute’s Chairman, Mr. Osten Olorunsola, who was a former Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), said the country will overcome its power problems with the exploitation of the energy sources at its disposal.

    According to him, energy mix remained the most viable solution to electricity problems since the country has tried conventional method of generating electricity without much success.

    The Federal Government, he noted, should leverage energy sources such as coal, solar, gas, hydro, biomass and others to lift the power sector growth and sustainability.

    Olorunsohal “Energy mix is the way out of the problem Nigeria has found itself in. We have no choice than to use a combination of different sources of energy to generate the required electricity. The government needs to marry both the renewable energy and traditional energy sources together to attain the goal of providing stable electricity for Nigerians.

    “While solar and wind are used to generate renewable energy, gas and hydro are used to provide the traditional energy. Other countries have adopted this strategy, and Nigeria should not be an exception.

    “Another problem is that we have a lot of skills gap, so we have to help brush up and sharpen the capabilities of all our engineers and other energy related professionals. Northern part of Nigeria is blessed with solar while the eastern part has huge coal and gas reserves, but the failure of the government to make use of different sources of energy have not augured well for the country.”

     

    Beyond rhetoric

    In the last two years, the Federal Government has been  announcing the recovery of transmission facilities seized by the Nigerian Customs Service a couple of years ago. In 2014, the former Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo took delivery of some of the seized 218 containers of equipment imported by the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) 11 years ago.

    In November last year, the Power, Works & Housing Minister Mr. Babatunde Fashola also received some containers. But these have not translated to significant improvement in transmission network.

    At the flag-off of the release of the seized containers at the Lagos and Onne Ports, Prof. Nebo said the equipment would improve power supply significantly. Represented by the former TCN Managing Director, Mr. Tambuwa Atiku, Fashola said the TCN took delivery of 77 containers of electricity equipment, out of the 218 containers seized by Customs.

    The TCN took delivery of all the stranded 218 containers of power equipment to complement the government’s effort in providing stable power supply in the country, Tambuwa said on behalf of the minister at DUNCAN Terminal in Lagos, where some of the containers were collected.

    The minister, who once said that fixing the country’s power problem was not a rocket science, admitted that “electricity is not cheap commodity and should attract appropriate tariff.”

    He urged the National Assembly to enact laws that would give stiffer punishment to those tampering with power installations, and vandalism of pipelines.

    According to him, more than 3,000Mw of power had been decommissioned as a result of vandalism, urging the lawmakers to give priority to the power bills pending before the National Assembly.

    “There should be amendment of laws to ensure that there are stiffer punishments meted out to those who tamper with power facilities”, the minister said.

    •Concluded

  • Paradox of corrupt opposition party in power

    SIR: The All Peoples Congress (APC) gained the Nigerian presidency on an enchanting mantra of change, particularly change from the tide of an endemic corruption that characterized the 16-year reign of the People Democratic Party (PDP). Unfortunately, however, over one and half years after it lost power, virtually all structures of government have remained in the firm grip of the PDP, the opposition party. Not surprisingly, the hope for the much-anticipated change is gradually becoming a pipe dream.

    A vast majority of the agencies under the executive branch are controlled by the opposition. The parastatals, for instance, remain dominated by the appointees of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Foreign Service is sadly similar. With the undue delay to appoint substantive diplomats; the embassies and consulates, which typically help to promote the president’s vision abroad, are still in the hands of the very PDP apologists that tainted the convex lens through which the world views Nigeria.

    The paradox at the legislature has grown old but obviously worse. In short, the change agenda of the current government took a nose dive when the opposition swayed the election of the Senate President to a pliable member of Nigeria’s corrupt oligarchy. Still, that is practically nada when compared to the fact that the opposition has continued to hold fast the position of the Deputy Senate President.

    The situation at the third arm does not exude hope. Infamous for frivolous delays of corrupt cases at the courts, it did not shock anyone, therefore, that the judiciary would quickly collude with the legislature to obstruct the vision of the executive arm.

    The objective fact, if it is not already manifest, is that a virally corrupt opposition party is dictating the nature, character, and pace of the Nigerian national agenda. It goes to say, thenceforth, that the opposition confederates are also the ones relishing the spoils of the current government.

    Blaming the opposition for Nigeria’s current woes, as above, will always attract a captive audience for obvious reasons, but President Buhari’s style has become a perplexing quotient. Fresh from the euphoria of a historic victory, many thought the president had a unique clue when he proclaimed to “belong to no one” and thence begged our indulgence to single-handedly change Nigeria by himself. Alas, we are all finding out the hard way.

    What we have found out thus far is a meticulous approach to governance and, by consequence, a slow pace of the change. This pattern, coupled with a seemingly lack of transparency as well as skewed political appointments, had ignited a public outcry which, in essence, spurred the lees of the corrupt past regime to creep back in all spheres of political power. More painfully, any good intention notwithstanding, Buhari’s uneven attempt to prove that he belongs to no one might have painted a picture of a one-man show, thereby alienating the APC intelligentsia that would have ordinarily placed the opposition squarely where it belongs.

    The solution, though, is self-evident. Instead of continuing to rest on the oars of the victory of 2015 with a small clique of leeches or waiting to fully recover from an unfortunate health setback, Buhari might as well consider that the battle for 2019 is almost here. A ready route is to broaden and embolden the change agents. Besides a much-needed cabinet overhaul, it is about time the president finally embraces his party structure across the country to help him fill, without any more delay, the thousands of positions still in the hands of a party opposed to change.

    To regain the trust of the APC main thrust, however, is not expected to be easy. Even the purest of the paragons of virtue would feel used and abandoned. But there is every reason for the change family as well as the masses to remain steadfast. Any thought to officially surrender power back to the PDP or its makeover is a hellish proposition.

     

    • SKC Ogbonnia,

    Houston, Texas.

  • Commanding the supernatural by the power of the tongue! (4)

    Since the month began, we have been exploring the powers inherent in our tongues. Last week, we examined the creative, prophetic and reproductive power domiciled in our tongue (words). This week, I will conclude this series by discussing how powerful our tongues can be from the scientific perspective.

    From the paper of a renowned Neurosurgeon as captured in Pastor Yonggi Cho’s book, Ministering Hope For 50 Years, the expert stated that the speech area nerve that allows humans to speak has the power to control other parts of the body. For instance, if a person says, “I am gradually getting weaker,” other nerves in the body immediately receive that command from the speech area nerve and obey it, saying something like, “Let’s get weak. We need to get weaker; that’s the message from the command tower.” That is how a person gets weak and becomes ill. In other words, those nerves can weaken an individual.

    Also, he said if another person says: “I am not capable. I cannot do this.” Then, all the nerves in his body respond accordingly, almost as if they say to each other, “We are not capable; that is what the speech area nerve commanded; that is an order; we need to prepare to become incompetent, we must give up all means of utilizing our capabilities.”

    Furthermore, he stated that if someone else says, “I am too old; I am too tired to do anything else,” the speech area nerve will exercise its power and take command over all the nerves. The nerves will then respond as if they were saying, “Yes, we are all old. Let’s prepare to die – to rest in the grave.” However, if an individual says, “I’m healthy,” then the speech area nerve sends its command to other nerves, effectively saying, “You’re all healthy.” They respond, “We’re all healthy, very healthy.” They then process the command and become healthy. That way, even sick people can regain their health.

    Spiritually, these speech area nerves can be likened to the angels of God, who are sent to minister to us who are heirs of salvation. They are ever on guard to deliver us from evil and carry out our orders, precisely (Ecclesiastes 5:6) Thus, spiritually and scientifically, it is proven that our breakdowns or breakthroughs are absolutely at the command of our tongues. Therefore, we must watch what we say, because what we say determines what happens to us.

    Are you born again? This means, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord? If you haven’t, you can do so as you say this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!”

    For further reading, please get my books: Releasing The Supernatural, Walking In The Miraculous, Commanding The Supernatural.

    I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have five services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:35 a.m., 9:10 a.m., 10:45 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. respectively.

    I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 01-4548070, 01-4548280; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

  • Power: The problem with coal

    SIR: Coal is a combustible black or dark brown sedimentary rock usually occurring in layers called coal beds. In Nigeria, it was first discovered in 1909 at a place called Udi Ridge in Enugu. In 1916, coal mining became fully operational at Ogbete Mines, Enugu and by 1917 a second coal mine was opened in Iva Valley, Enugu. Maiganga mine in Gombe was also one of the coal mines that sprang up in Nigeria during the colonial era. In 2011, Okobo coal mine field in Kogi State became operational.

    Coal can be used to provide energy to drive economic growth. However, coal to power generation has huge challenges because coal has the highest carbon content among all fossil fuels. Coal mining and combustion causes a massive emission of greenhouse gases. When coal is burned, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury compounds are released into the atmosphere. Sadly, all these are gases that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is working very hard to reduce their emissions. The coal mining technique usually adopted in coal mines in Nigeria is the surface mining method also called strip or open cast mining. This method is notorious for releasing toxic amounts of minerals and heavy metals into soils and water bodies that host communities usually patronize. This method of mining is also notorious for destroying landscapes, forest, wild life habitats and biodiversity in general. It also predisposes the community to erosion since plants, trees and topsoil are usually uprooted from around the mine sites. As rain falls, the loose topsoil contaminated with carbon sediments is washed into water bodies. This is very destructive to fishes and other aquatic life forms. It may also distort the flow channels of streams and rivers leading to flooding in some areas and water scarcity in other areas. Water sheds are also destroyed when disfigured lands loses the water it once held.

    Another challenge with coal to power is that coal mining generates a lot of noise and air  pollution. The excavation and transportation of mined coal within host communities usually causes massive amounts of coal dust to circulate in the air. This puts community    dwellers who inhale this dust over long periods of time at risk of developing varying degrees of respiratory ailments including black lung disease, bronchitis and asthma. This dust also has the capacity to complicate the health of children and may even cause them to have stunted physical and mental growth. The roads in such communities are usually untarred and when trucks move around in the dry season, large quantities of dust are usually raised into the surrounding. This dust is not healthy for inhalation. To make matters worse, most coal mining communities do not have a decent health facility and the community dwellers are usually very indigent people who cannot afford to travel far and wide for first grade medical services. This condemns them to live and die with whatever health challenge coal mining has brought on them. Also, coal mining produces very loud and disruptive noise in the host community. Heavy equipment excavating coal usually causes massive vibrations that have the capacity to cause cracks and collapses of buildings.

    Just recently, China announced the cancellation of one hundred and three coal power plants, some of which were operational and some under construction. The government admitted that a lot of resources had being put into the projects but there was need to move away from one of the dirtiest source of generating electricity. Some other western nations have started curtailing investment in coal to power. The fact that you are blessed with a resource is not a compulsion that you must use it especially considering the fact that side effect exists. There is therefore need for Nigeria to review its decision to make budgetary appropriations for coal to power if it really wants to cut carbon emission

     

    • Martins Eke,

     Centre for Social Justice, Wuse Zone 6, Abuja.

     

  • Banks’ loans to oil, gas, power firms hit N4tr

    •Financial institutions may go to capital market for funds

    Nigerian banks are battling imminent liquidity crisis over huge exposure and non-performing loans to oil and gas and power sector, which is presently in excess of N4 trillion, The Nation has learnt.

    The situation is making it difficult for operators in the oil and gas and power to secure loans for operations.

    Head, Energy Research, Ecobank Group Mr. Dolapo Oni told The Nation banks could not release funds to oil and gas industries because there was no fund to release unless they go and raise money in the capital market.

    He stated that this year, a lot of banks will go to the market to raise capital “because if they don’t raise capital, there will be nothing to lend”.

    Oni said: “Banks don’t have funds to release unless they go the capital market to raise capital. If they don’t raise capital, there is nothing to lend. A lot of banks are exposed to 30-40 per cent of their loan books to oil and gas.  The implication of this is that if oil price continues to remain low, most of those banks will start recording losses on those particular assets.

    “Currently, we have about 12.8 per cent of all loans that are non-performing in banking industry, and the bulk of that is from the power, oil and gas sector.

    “So, it is pushing the banking industry into a region that they are approaching a crisis in terms of non-performing loans. Also, the banks have an issue of foreign exchange (forex) in their hands. Most of the loans are in dollars and these companies that took loans are not getting dollars. So, the banks have dollar issues too.

    “Besides, those banks borrowed from their foreign bankers to lend to the oil and gas companies and so, they are finding it difficult to pay their own foreign bankers too. I think for the banks to continue their duties, they need to raise capital or there will be no funds to lend to the oil and gas this year. Next year, things might be a lot easier and we will see banks lending to oil and gas and power sector.

    “As at Q3 (third quarter) last year, banks’ exposure to oil and gas and power sector was N4 trillion but as the value of Naira depreciates, the amount of those loans rise because the loans were in dollars. Also, by the time the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) comes out with its 2016 report, banks’ exposure to the energy sector may be much higher.”

    Oni added that the CBN was not providing enough dollars to the banks, but noted that the apex bank “is having meetings with the banks to see how (they) banks will source more dollars to pay their foreign bankers and other clients”.

    “But unfortunately, CBN insists it doesn’t have such dollars,” the banker said.

    To resolve the forex problem, he said the “Federal Government needs to deregulate the forex market fully so that people can come into the market”.

  • Power generation hits 4,043Mw as gas supply improves

    Power generation hits 4,043Mw as gas supply improves

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said power generation rose from 3,528 megawatts (Mw) to 4,043 Mw between Feb.1 and Feb.15.

    TCN, in its website, explained that the 515Mw increase in generation as at Feb.15 was due to slight increase in gas supply to some power generating companies (GenCos).

    “The total output of 4,043 megawatts from all the GenCOos on Wednesday has been transferred to the 11 distribution companies across the country,’’ TCN said.

    An official of Egbin Power Station, who pleaded anonymity, said gas supply to the station had increased slightly in the last seven days.

    The source told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the station, which has capacity to generate 1,320Mw now generates 420Mw as against former generation of 160Mw.

    The official called for more gas supply to the station to enable it fire all its five turbines.

    “The 420Mw generated by the station has been linked to the national grid by 5.35 am on Wednesday,’’ the source said.

    The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) had announced drop in power supply on Jan. 22 to 2,662.20 Mw due to low water levels and the challenge of accessing gas by GenCos.

    Also, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola,  said he would like consumers to be more resistant to the payment of electricity bills, if there was no supply.

    Fashola spoke at the 12th Monthly Power Sector and Stakeholders’ Meeting hosted by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) in Ibadan.

  • Dangote: restructure power sector or risk disaster

    Dangote: restructure power sector or risk disaster

    The Honorary Adviser to the President of Dangote Group,  Joseph Makoju has warned that if the existing structure in the power sector is not fundamentally changed, the nation risks disaster.

    Speaking at a two-day Power Sector Stakeholders Interactive Dialogue convened by the National Assembly in Abuja, Makoju, who was Special Adviser to three presidents on Power, canvassed for a fundamental structural change, as against the current path of tariff increases and government’s bailouts.

    He said: “I want to stress that, I do not wish to be alarmist; but if we continue on the current path of tariff increases and government bailouts without fundamental structural changes, we will soon be dealing with a disaster. What assets are on ground will depreciate, financial positions will deepen, and eventually we will all come back to these same conclusions but after much more harm has been done.”

    Makoju pushed for adequate funding and restructuring of the power sector so as to achieve relative stability in electricity generation and distribution

    He said the power sector is  bankrupt to the point of even threatening the health of financial institutions and the wider national economy.

    To restructure the sector for effective services, Makoju advised a reduction in the distribution zones.

    He said the failure of the power sector under government management was not technical and commercial management of the business but the absence of sustained and adequate funding of the sector. According to him,  despite the privatisation exercise six years ago, the problem of the sector remained the same.

    “Most of the private sector investors in the power privatisation had no specialist knowledge or understanding of the power sector, which has eroded the technical and managerial competence in the industry. And the funding problems have persisted and even become exacerbated as they now even threaten the stability and health of the nation’s banking system as well as the entire electricity sector,“ Makoju lamented.

    While noting that the distribution end of the value chain is the most inefficient and has suffered the greatest neglect, he described it as one which underpins the financial viability and sustainability of the entire sector. “To get the sector moving forward we need to improve its liquidity position, and this can only be accomplished through satisfied, paying customers,” he said.

    Still on adequate funding for the sector, Makoju said the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) reports that as at last December, the funding gap in the power sector is over N1 trillion and as such, advised that funding must be looked at from the perspective of new equity and debt financing arrangements and structures, and internally generated revenue maximisation.

    As a lasting solution, he also canvassed new capable players working in a reconfigured power sector while also considering residual government shares for bringing in long term funding.

    While urging the government to declare a state of emergency in the sector, he sought for the engagement of industry experts and policymakers to draw up a comprehensive power sector master plan building on past provisions and arrangements to deliver an electricity industry fit for current and future needs.