Efforts by successive administrations at turning the power sector around do not appear to be yielding positive results. From the era of Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) which was bequeathed to Nigeria by the colonial masters to the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and until recently, to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which eventually gave way to the privatisation of the sector, Nigeria has failed to find the right formula for adequate and sustainable power generation and distribution.
Nigeria appears to be a nation condemned to perpetual darkness, with the situation growing from bad to worse. It is a paradox that despite the huge gas reserves, abundant rivers for hydro-driven energy as well as surplus sunshine for solar power at our disposal, we are still is in dire need of electricity to drive the economy. The insufficient and largely unreliable power supply has remained the bane of our industrial and technological growth and development. It seems the importers of generators have placed a curse on the power sector. A deliverer is, therefore, needed to break the curse and fast, too. A generator-driven economy such as ours would continue to falter.
Only recently, Nigeria was celebrated as the leading economic giant on the continent. It pushed South Africa down the ladder. Yet, the former apartheid enclave is generating over 50,000 megawatts of electricity with a robust economy that exports goods to different parts of the world including Nigeria. But Nigeria, with a population of over 160m people, is still labouring to generate 4,000 mw 54 years after independence. In apparent show of pity, last week, neigbouring Ghana offered to rescue Nigeria from the power woes via exportation of megawatts of electricity.
Despite the recent privatisation of the power sector, the federal government must be getting disillusioned by the underperforming state of the various firms that have taken over the critical sector. It may be too early to say whether or not those who opposed the exercise are having a last laugh. It is perhaps in the light of this that the government recently announced yet another bailout package running into N213bn to the operators of the power sector. Petroleum Resources minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in rationalising the reprieve, explained that the money was for settlement of legacy debts worth N36bn and to shore up low gas supply to power plants.
According to her, “this provision, among other measures, would boost investor confidence and increase power stabilisation to 5,000 megawatts in 2015”. When President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in after the 2011 polls, he identified power sector as critical to the realisation of his Transformation Agenda and set up the Presidential Task Force on Power to reform the sector. Two years later, while commissioning the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) 500mw Omotosho Phase II power station in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo state, he said: “I am not saying that electricity supply will be total but I want to assure that light will be reasonably stabilised before the middle of 2014”. That hope, like others before it, has been dashed.
The government also instituted a process with the enactment of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005 and the establishment of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). But then, it is an irony that the reforms have not yielded any tangible results. The steady decline in electricity supply nationwide ought to be a source of constant embarrassment to managers of our economy even as consumers are traumatised with constant tariff increments.
To even attain the meagre 5,000mw envisioned by the government requires a serious commitment on its part. The administration must purge itself of corruption and politicisation of its reforms. Many believe that the hiccups in the power sector have continued to persist because the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was handed over to incompetent hands based on political consideration and cronyism. The corollary of this is our continued groping in the dark for elusive light.