Expert Seeks Review Of Nigerian Electricity Laws

A technocrat and development expert, Elder Elkanah Hanson has called for the review of the existing electricity laws in the country to enhance effective service delivery in the power sector.
Elder Hanson made the call while delivering a lecture at a workshop on Nigerian Content, jointly organised by the Port Harcourt branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Port Harcourt last week.
According to the technocrat, the present regulating laws and policies in the Nigerian power sector were part of colonial legacies that needed to be abolished for more realistic and workable model.
He decried a situation where power should be on exclusive legislative list, stating that such policies stifles the prospect of development in the power sector.
Elder Hanson also faulted the fusing of the power ministry into other ministries, and advocated that the power ministry should be independent to effectively addressing the daunting challenges in the sector.
While calling on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the power sector, he said a qualified engineer with requisite experience in the energy sector should be appointed the minister of power.
The elder statesman also picked hole in the privatisation of the power sector. He said politicians took advantage of the policy and acquired the assets despite their incompetence to deliver the required service. He adviced that all privatised power assets should be revoked for experts and other industry players to key into the process for better service delivery.
He further recommended that Nigeria should take advantage of its potentials in alternative sources, like renewable energy to generate electricity.
He also identified our dependence on national grid as a major inhibiting factor in the transformation of the power sector.
Elder Hanson urged the government to embrace the solar energy revolution and other renewable energy sources, such as Geothermal and Biomas to generate electricity.
He pointed out that northern Nigeria alone, has the capacity and potential to generate solar energy for domestic consumption industrial use and exportation, while wind energy could be harvested from the over 1000 kilometre of coastal line in the Niger Delta.
Elder Hanson also called on the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board to encourage local entrepreneurs to enhance local content delivery in all sectors of the economy. According to him, such encouragement in terms of funding and training will boost the economic diversification policy of the federal government.

Taneh Beemene