Chief Haruna Ahmed Osike is a former staff of Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) and National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) before he retired with over 50 year-experience in the industry. In this interview with OYIBO SALIHU, he spoke extensively on the rot in the sector and the need for federal government to revisit the 2013 concession agreement it had with investors in order to save Nigeria from the looming total darkness.
What do you think is responsible for the epileptic power supply despite government’s effort at ensuring that Nigerians enjoy constant electricity supply?
The major problem Nigeria has today in respect of electricity emanated from the distribution companies. The power generating companies are trying their best in ensuring that enough kilowatts of electricity are generated but the distribution companies saddled with the responsibilities of evacuating the electricity are the ones thwarting the enormous effort put in place by the federal government in seeing that Nigerians enjoyed constant power supply. I believe that Nigerians can still attest to the fact that when President Muhammadu Buhari took over the mantle of leadership in 2015, his major priority was to tackle the issues surrounding the power sector and he created an enabling environment for the critical stakeholders to operate all with a view to improve the power supply, regrettably, while the power generating companies co-operate assiduously, the distribution companies especially Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) handling Kogi, Abuja and other states completely deviated from the core agreement it went into with the federal government. Beside deviation, the companies also jettisoned many of the agreements they signed before assuming distribution status.
Can you imagine that the power generation companies would generate enough electricity and the AEDC will refused to buy and distribute; instead, they were be busy doing load shielding, putting consumers in total darkness while they continue arbitrary billing whether services are rendered to the people or not. They minimise the supply of power in order to maximise profit for the owners of the company at the detriment of the consumers whose businesses solely depend on electricity to survive. All these tricks government cannot claim ignorance because even the former minister of power, works and housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, was aware but turned his back on the nefarious attitude of the distribution companies even when there are series of complaints of epileptic power supply across the states and nothing was done. This was a minister the president believed was capable of handling the sector. It is apparently the responsibilities of the distribution companies to provide and maintained their equipment but in this country, it is the consumers and communities who replace electric poles, replaced damaged wires and now AEDC has started compelling people to pay for pre-paid meters which to me is ridiculous and unacceptable because part of the agreement during the concession was for them to supply the meters free to households using electricity. Also the distribution companies have refused to employed qualified electrical engineers and technicians because they don’t want to pay. Imagine in some areas, distribution managers are not engineers; how can such companies succeed. Most of their staff are casuals and the permanent staff are very few.
According to the agreement between the federal government and the distribution companies, prepaid meters are to be supplied free but some people alleged that they paid. Why do you think it is so?
Even right from the period of ECN meters were free and up till tomorrow, it supposed to be free because billing meters are part of equipment used by the distribution companies, therefore asking consumers to pay means that the people are buying tools for the companies and this is an indication that the distribution companies especially AEDC does not have the financial capability to render services to the customers.
What therefore is your advice to consumers on the issue of prepaid meters?
I would advise consumers of electricity who have no prepaid meters not to pay. I even have the leaflet where AEDC were charging the sum of #36,991:50k for single phase and #67, 055 : 85k for three phase without recourse for the agreement it signed with the federal government to supply the prepaid meters free.
It is therefore the duty of the federal government and the National Assembly to look into the issue of prepaid meters because the cheating is becoming unbearable and it is a fraudulent act.
The Nigeria Electricity Regulating Commission (NERC) should be up and doing because their silence over the issue of prepaid meters may amount to the fact that the commission has connived with the distribution companies to defraud innocent Nigerians. NERC is not performing its statutory obligations to the people; I am appealing to the federal government to dissolve that body because it is not functioning well. I am also using this medium to appeal on the federal government to compel the governors to establish ministry of power in their respective states; thereafter, any state that has the capacity to generate power should be encouraged to do so. The states can register with the federal government, generate power, distribute and add to the national grid. For instance, Kogi state havs two major rivers which can be used for hydro power generation of electricity. If the governor can venture into such project, the state will have constant power supply and even supply power to other states.
How would you rate AEDC in terms of performance in Kogi state?
The company’s performance is far below average; many artisans that depend on power to carry out their business activities in Kogi Central and other parts of the state have been thrown out of business especially welders who have abandoned their jobs to riding okada due to constant epileptic power supply. Even the association of welders in Kogi Central have taken AEDC to court for not living to expectation. It is the same complaina by the association of hoteliers in the district.
What advice do you have for federal government on the issue of power?
If President Muhammadu Buhari truly and sincerely wants to tackle issues of electricity in this country, he should as a matter of urgency within his second term declare a state of emergency in the sector. Anything short of that means that Nigerians will continue to dwell in total darkness; companies and industries will continue to pack up one after the other and when this ugly trend continues, the unemployment rate will continue to rise arithmetically which will ultimately increase the high level of insecurity we are witnessing now.
I think a stitch in time saves nine; the president should focus vigorously on the issue of power this time around and he should also engage professionals in the field of engineering on matters that bother on power rather than using a novice that can easily be cajoled into accepting what is not right and not solution to the nation power problems. If the power sector is directly under the supervision of the president, he will be able to identify the high level of corruption in the sector otherwise no matter how much dollars and naira he sinks into it, the result will amount to nothing and the people will not derive any benefit from the effort. The Ministry of Power is very large and should be detached from works and housing so that it can be monitored efficiently and effectively to give the desire result. It is a fact that Nigerians vested too much hope and expectations on President Buhari that he has the capacity to change the fortune of the country for better and as such he should try to fulfil the mandate and trust reposed on him by Nigerians in addressing critical sector that can give rise to development of the country.ITS INTERVIEW, NOT FEATURE, PLS.Show quoted text
