Nine years after it was initiated, the rural electrification project is yet to take off. Reason: it is being bogged down by shoddy implementation and corruption, reports AKINOLA AJIBADE
When the Federal Government initiated the rural electrification scheme in 2005, its aim was to get over 2,000 communities connected to the national grid. Expectations were high that the project would stimulate growth by providing electricity to residents of rural and semi-urban areas nationwide. It was also envisaged that by riding on the back of the project to bring electricity to the doorsteps of rural dwellers, their living standards would significantly improve, thus allowing them contribute their quota to economic growth. But, nine years down the line, the project is yet to deliver on its promises, leaving the intended beneficiaries in the lurch, unable to access power from the national grid.
At present, most of the rural dwellers do not have hopes of accessing power from the grid, nor exploring opportunities provided by renewable energy like solar, coal, and biomass, among others. This, The Nation learnt, is because the grid and off-grid projects launched to improve electricity supply not working despite gulping huge sums of tax payers’ money. The Rural Electrification Agency (REA), the body set up to promote and coordinate the rural electrification projects, appears hamstrung, unable to achieved much, if any. It was learnt that the agency, whose other responsibilities include inviting, screening, approving, and monitoring of contractors hired to handle the projects is fraught with issues around funding and corruption, which is why most of the sites are littered by abandoned projects.
For instance, Kenneth Achugbu, an Engineer and head of the agency, disclosed that of the total of 1, 946 projects inherited from the Ministry of Power, 1,994 projects were abandoned across the country. About 48 of the projects were initiated by the agency, which explains the difference in the number of abandoned projects.
The Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun blames this on the failure of successive administrations to give the rural electrification project the desired attention. He lamented that this is inhibiting socio-economic growth. According to him, many of the projects were left uncompleted by governments, and this exerts undue pressure on their successors.
Amosun, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Energy, Taiwo Fagbemi, at the ground breaking ceremony of a power plant in Magboro, Mowe area of the state, said negligence on the part of leaders hinders the implementation of rural electricity projects. He said the wide gap in electricity infrastructure was caused by lack of cooperation among the stakeholders in the energy value chain.
He said: “There has not been co-operation among stakeholders in the rural and urban areas, especially in the areas of conceiving, developing, and financing electricity projects. This has affected rural electrification, as well as socio-economic activities in Nigeria. This informed the government’s decision to open up rural areas in the state by providing electricity for them.. Twelve companies in the state have demonstrated the need to improve electricity supply to the grid. The government would provide an enabling environment for them to operate.’’
He said the government, in line with its growth agenda, would galvanise economic activities by providing electricity for rural dwellers.
Amosun said the rural electrification project became necessary because rural dwellers are poor and could not access electricity on their own unless the government assist them. “The lull in business activities in rural areas was caused by poverty. This permeates every aspect of the lives of rural dwellers. How can they provide electricity, in the face of poverty?” he asked.
The World Bank, in its poverty index on emerging countries, underscored Amosun’s assertion when it said that 75 per cent of the rural population in Nigeria live below the poverty line. The Bank said the cost of supplying electricity to rural communities is relatively high and unaffordable. It said Nigeria is one of the countries with the lowest per capital income, adding that its citizens live under $2 per day. “High poverty ratio has made rural electrification impossible in Nigeria. Poverty and the high cost of supplying electricity is by far the most important problem facing rural electrification in Nigeria,,” World Bank said.
However, poverty is not the only hurdle before rural electrification. A combination of political, economic, technical, social and geographical problems are also said to have conspired to slow down the pace of the project. At the center of the problem is the failure of the political elites to see rural electrification as key to development. Also, successive governments failed to provide effective framework for power projects and design an electrical distribution system for the population.
Apart from bad economic climate and high cost of providing of electricity, inability of power companies to access the communities for installation of facilities, as well as resistance from the villagers, especially farmers that perpetually demand for right of way before they can allow construction and maintenance of electricity facilities take place in their domains, also contributed in stalling the projects.
Perhaps, most importantly, the rural electrification scheme has been mired in allegations of corruption and fraud. Recall, for instance, the alleged N6 billion fraud involving senior officials of REA, Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Power, Ndudi Elumelu, Senator Nicholas Yahaya Ugbana, and one other member, which caused ripples in the sector. The money, which was part of the N16 billion allocated for the National Independent Power Projects (NIPPs), seriously affected the implementation of the projects. The suspects were however, slammed a 156-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to Dagogo-Wilcox, a Port Harcourt-based Public Affairs analyst, “the trial of some high profile members of the last House of Representatives and senior officials of the REA for corruption in 2009 remained one of the greatest paradoxes of our time. Elumelu and his colleagues in the committee exposed the underbelly of the graft-infested power sector, providing some insights as to why the nation remains in perpetual darkness.”
A report on tenders for power projects issued by the REA and obtained by The Nation, said the projects are sited in 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country. The report said each local council boasts at least two to three projects in line with the policy on rural electrification. Unfortunately, most of the projects have long been abandoned despite the huge amount of money being sunk into them.
For instance, this year alone, government would spend N16 billion on rural electrification projects, according to Minister of State for Power, Mrs Zainab Kuchi.
Speaking during the inauguration of an 11-man board for REA in Abuja, Kuchi said a large percentage of the sum would be used to revive the numerous abandoned electricity projects scattered across various rural communities. She said: “The funding for the REA is N16 billion this year and that will go squarely for the development of the abandoned projects in our rural areas. The abandoned projects have been identified and we advise proper funding for these projects.”
Kuchi said the government’s target is to achieve 75 per cent rural electrification access by 2020. This is your (REA) charge. Your key indicators will include the number of rural communities that have access to electricity and the number of investors who we are able to attract to the rural electrification sub-sector. Others are the extent to which we are able to garner information on local technology and work towards their application in the rural electrification agency; and how many jobs we are able to create in the rural economy and the impact to which we are able to have on socio-economic development in the rural areas.” She said, electricity, under the law, falls within the concurrent, adding that the Federal, state and local governments could participate in its provision.
The Minister’s charge was part of an attempt by government to revive the agency and position to deliver on government’s promises to give the rural communities access to electricity. For this to happen, the Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo said more investments need to be channelled to the rural electrification projects if meaningful results must be achieved. Nebo, who spoke in Lagos, recommended Private-Public Partnership (PPP), which he said, would lead to the growth of the sector. He said the issue of financing rural electrification projects, among others, is too much to be left in the hands of the government, urging private sector operators to collaborate with the government.
“A synergy between the government and the private sector operators is necessary to solve the problems facing rural electrification project. This would help in attracting funds for project.Thereafter, industrial activities in rural communities would take place,” he said.
He said the cost of providing and maintaining power infrastructure is high, urging companies to invest in it.
If and when government succeeds in getting the buy in of private sector operators in the rural electrification project, the President, Liquidfeild Petroleum Gas Association of Nigeria (LPGAN), Femi Adesina said the country has gas that can power the whole of Africa if well utilised. Adesina said greater investments in gas production would help generation, distribution and transmission of electricity in the country. He said the problem arising from implementation of rural electrification projects would reduce once the power firms are able to generate enough electricity for the country.
As he put it, “Rural electricity projects can only connect people to the national grid when there is no interruption in the services of the power firms. The bulk of the electricity that goes to the grid comes from the gas-powered firms. The need to encourage even distribution of natural gas to domestic users is imperative for the growth of the sector. Nigeria boasts of a proven gas reserve of 187 trillion cubit feet, and 600 trillion gas projection. This has put the country in a position to meet its domestic and export needs without stress. To ensure that power firms which use about 80 per cent of the gas produced, private investment in gas needs to be improved.’’
He said private and public partnerhip would help in solving infrastructural problems facing the sector, advsing the government to provide a framework to make it happen.
The consensus of stakeholders is that more investments are required from the government and private sector operators for rural electrification to work.
