Despite the lack of power supply in the country, Nigeria sells six per cent of the power generated in the country to neigbouring countries daily, Managing Director, Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET), Dr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, said yesterday.
He told members of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance that the country would continue to sell power to other countries to avoid crisis in the sector.
He spoke when the Committee queried the agency for failing to spend funds released to it by the Ministry of Finance to fund its capital projects despite receiving the funds budgeted.
He also said though the country have the capacity to generate about 14,000megawatts of electricity, only 7,600 megawatts (Mw) is being generated while only about 5000 megawatts are being distributed to Nigerians.
Responding to questions on how power being sold to other countries and why they would be selling power when Nigerians don’t have enough, he said: “We sell about 6 percent of generation capacity or what is available at any given time which is four or 5000Mw.
Also, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, yesterday assured that the Zungeru and Kashimbila Hydro Power projects, with a combined capacity of 740 megawatts (Mw) of electricity would be ready by next month.
He gave this assurance when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power, chaired by Senator Gabriel Suswam, to defend the 2022 budget proposal of the ministry.
He noted, however, that lack of adequate rainfall this year to power the turbines could prevent the Zungeru Hydro Power station from supplying the projected 700Mw of electricity after its inauguration.
He also said the growing insecurity in Niger State could disrupt the inauguration of the project when completed in December.
According to him, the workers who would operate the power project can only relocate to the site and live there if there is adequate security.
He also added that 40Mw Kashimbila power project would commence operation upon its inauguration in the second week of next month.
He said the Federal Government has paid the N10billion owed contractors and that everything was in place for the take off.
The minister said the Mambilla power project was stalled because of legal issues which the Minister of Justice is tackling.
Aliyu said: “It is only the Minister of Justice that can speak on such high profile legal case. We have scheduled the Zungeru hydro power project for inauguration in December 2021. We have met with the contractors recently and they are looking at December, not in the horizon.
“Perhaps the inauguration could be extended to one or two months into 2022. I however told them that we would stick to the December deadline. So, we are still working with the December deadline.
“We have challenges of security. They needed certain numbers of security but they are only able to get half of the number they needed.
“They wanted the military to complement the shortfall so that the workers can stay and work on shifts and sleep there. As of now, the workers are not there because of insecurity.
“Another challenge is that we don’t have the minimum amount of water to power the turbines because there was no adequate rainfall this year and the hydro dam needs flood to come up and fill up the reservoir. There is a minimum level of water needed to turn the turbines.”
The minister nevertheless said the ministry in collaboration with the relevant government agencies, was working hard to address the challenges.
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The Zungeru hydropower project is a 700Mw hydroelectric facility being built with Chinese assistance on the upper and middle reaches of Kaduna River in Niger State.
It would be recalled that Kashimbila Multipurpose Dam project was initially designed with an installed capacity of 18Mw, however, following the detailed hydrological modelling and yield analysis carried out by Aurecon, a 40Mw installed capacity was recommended and implemented.
The multipurpose dam would also have the capacity to generate electricity, and a water treatment plant capable of supplying 60,000 cubic meters of water to about 400,000 people, irrigation facility of about 2,000 hectares and an airstrip.
“Nigeria is at the heart of the transaction and this has to do with damming of the river. We have dammed the rivers. If we don’t provide electricity to countries that are up stream, they can also build their own dams and that will be a major crisis.
“So, there is a strategic reason the government took the decision. If they are able to dam the river upstream, we are in big trouble.”
He said further that the agency has about 25 power generation companies in its kitty, most of which are located in the Southsouth and Southwest largely because of gas, with one in the Southeast and the hydros in Niger State.
According to him, “the issue of power evacuation is an issue of priority to the government. At the moment, the contracted generating capacity is about 14,000 Mw. Of that, what is available in terms of what generation companies are producing is around 7600 Mw.
“But because of constraints from different corners either at transmission or distribution level, it is readily available. What is readily available is about 4000 to 5000 Mw. To address the gap of what is available and what the system can currently carry, there are a number of intervention projects the government is currently pursuing including the Presidential Power Initiative which is done in partnership with Siemens.
“The CBN is funding interface projects between transmission and distribution companies. To increase generation, what we need is to increase the corridor for the power to move. There are a number of interface projects between TCN and distribution companies that are critical to enhanced power evacuation and CBN is providing funding to address those interface bottlenecks.
“NDPHC is also dealing with some transmission and distribution projects. As these interface projects are addressed, there will be enough room for more megawatts to move. NERC has also completed sector improvement plans with each of the distribution companies.
“There are intervention plans by the government to make power available to the people. While I cannot give a time frame, I can say that the President is committed to completing this within the life span of this administration and a lot of work is being done in this regard to address the pains of Nigerians.”
Meanwhile, the committee queried the agency for keeping money released to it for capital projects in the bank rather than utilise it.
Committee Chairman, Rep. James Abiodun Faleke and committee members were unhappy that despite receiving 100 per cent releases from the Ministry of Finance, the agency was yet to commence the implementation of its capital budget two months to the end of the year.
Faleke told the agency: “We might have issues. Why did I say so? If you go through your budget and the releases, most of the releases you have been 100 per cent releases and we are in November, with just two months to go and implementation has not started when your budget will end by December.
“It is likely that the funds will be mopped up and taken back to the system. I don’t see you awarding contracts now, followed by execution and payment within two month. This will be very difficult, except you perform magic.
“I understand where you are coming from. But legislatively, it is a bit difficult. We make noise everyday for funds to be released and luckily, you agency has benefited from that. Only very few agencies have up to 100 per cent releases.
“What I expected is that by now, you have awarded the contracts. I don’t see the magic you want to do within two months. The only way is for you to work 24 hours and get this thing out. I understand that you want to be meticulous and follow the rules. But many other agencies are following the rules a d their projects are all over the place.
“The more we hold onto funds, the more it affects our economy. If you award the contract and the money is in the system, the GDP will be affected. These are issues we should not be talking about here. Instead, we should be taking about lack of releases. We should not be talking about having the money and not using it.”
But Dr. Ewekuka explained that the agency was at an advanced stage of awarding contracts for its 2021 capital budget, adding that the only money they have so far spent if the money meant for the power reform programme for paying generation companies which is 100 percent.
He said: “As you are aware, the implementation of the 2020 budget stretched to almost half of the year before releases started coming in for 2021. We are at an advanced stage of implementation and soon, these releases will be depopulated.
“We are confident that we will be able to complete our procurement processes. We have done the EOI and for some projects, we have obtained the BPP no objection and we are going to the next stage of financial evaluation.
“We are at an advanced stage and we are confident. One thing we do at NBET is to meticulously follow the procurement process. While it has been a painstakingly process, we are sure that we have been able to do things the proper way.”