What Hope For Nigeria’s Energy Generation?

I can not forget in a hurry that when  the National Council on Privatisation constituted and empowered a 23-member Electricity Sector Reforms Implementation Committee (ERIC), the committee was charged with the responsibility of  developing guidelines for promoting the policy goals for  total liberalisation and competition. It also had the task of promoting private sector-driven growth of the electricity sector. Of course, whenever private sector participation becomes imperative, it is an indication of a gap calling for a bridge.  If as posited by Okoro and Chikuni (2007), constant power supply is the hallmark of a developed economy, it implies that our nation whose energy need is epileptic in supply, will not only be prolonging her development, it also risks losing potential investors.
The realisation of this fact, I supposed, became a strong justification for the   power sector reformation efforts in Nigeria, which culminated in the signing into law of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act,  on March 11, 2005, by the  then President and Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Ever since, several  policies have been put in place by successive administrations to strengthen the sector for enhanced productivity, and probably actualise the federal government’s target of achieving a whopping 20GW of available electricity capacity by the end of the year 2020.
That was exactly the beginning of the unbundling of the Nigerian power sector. The eventual loss of the monopoly of the Nigerian Electricity Power Authority (NEPA) over the operation of the Nigerian power sector in 1998 was testimonial of the effort of the committee in this direction. while the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari lasted, there were insinuations and proclamation specifically by the then Vice President,  Yemi Osinbajo, that the federal government’s power sector reforms were  already yielding results, stating that  steady progress was being recorded in power generation, transmission and distribution capacities on the national grid.
Osinbajo, who said this at  the commissioning of a  2x60MVA, 132/33KV substation and associated 132KV transmission lines in Abeokuta, Ogun State,  viewed  the substation and transmission lines, built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), as an important part of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s efforts to improve the supply and quality of power reaching the homes and businesses of Nigerians.
He asserted that Nigeria at that  moment had  13,427 MW of installed capacity, and an available capacity of 8,342MW, an   achievement he attributed to  the efforts of their government – private sector partnership  in the rehabilitation/commissioning of turbines in Shiroro, Egbin, Delta Power, Sapele, and Gbarain. In his expression of  high optimism, he assured of a new generation of energy in the tune of Gbarain (Extra 115 MW); Kashimbilla (40 MW); Afam III Fast Power (240 MW); Gurara (30 MW); Dadin Kowa (29 MW); and Kaduna (215 MW).
What that suggested was that in  the long term, several solar plants would  come on stream because, as he asserted, the  national grid had the capacity to transmit 7,000 MW, supposedly an increase from less than 5,000MW in 2015,  following  the completion of several transmission projects like the Ikot Ekpene switching station and the completion of the Ikot Ekpene-Ugwuaji-Makurdi-Jos loop done by the (NDPHC) in 2017..
Of course, as a key stakeholder in both urban and economic development, nothing short of a vote for the private sector involvement could be apt at this moment in the country’s power sector, given its place as  a major contributor to national income and the principal job creator and employer. With the number of both electricity generating and distribution companies now operational in the country’s power sector, one still lacks explanations to why  the federal government’s target of 20GW of available electricity capacity by the end of the year 2020 could not still be actualised in 2023 or has that been achieved, waiting for distribution?
If so much effort as we were made to believe had been geared towards  the realisation of the past federal government’s target of   20GW of available electricity capacity by the end of 2020,  could it be wrong to expect stability in the power sector in 2023? That at this point in time, inclusion of the purchase, fuelling and maintenance of electricity generating sets across ministries, departments and agencies in the country,  is still given prominence  in our budget proposals,  leaves much to be desired
Like  former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, once said “if we insist that our economy is expected to join the world’s twenty largest economies in GDP size, then the electricity issue must be considered the top most of priorities”.  This writer belives that if we fail in this sector, we can as well bid farewell to any aspirations towards  joining  the world’s twenty largest economies in GDP size. If the achievement so recorded in power generation by the past administration as announced by former  Vice President Osinbajo, could be taken for real, why is the country still plunged into darkness; could it be that we generate without distribution?
I think the leadership of this great nation would be doing a great disservice to the led if it continues to place high premium on generating sets instead of looking for ways to distribute the energy so generated.

By: Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi