TOTAL system collapse occurring twice in the national electricity grid within a space of 48 hours, and plunging the entire country into total darkness, is emblematic of the ineptitude and systemic dysfunction that have overrun public infrastructure management in Nigeria. On Tuesday, the national transmission grid crashed, just hours after it had been restored after collapsing on Monday. It was the third time this year and the sixth in the past year. The power sector crisis has worsened. It is time that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), admits his failure to revive it, rallies the 36 states, the private sector and international development partners to craft an emergency rescue programme.
Incontrovertibly, the protracted electricity sector debacle, which dates back decades, arises from successive leadership failure. Like his predecessors, Buhari has been clueless and indecisive, lacking the crucial political will to solve the problem no matter what it takes. It is a monumental tragedy.
The result is close to catastrophic. As outages deepened, one after the other, the power distribution companies announced the collapse of the transmission grid to their customers. This latest collapse came less than a week after the Transmission Company of Nigeria blamed the generation companies for not generating enough power it could wheel to the distribution companies nationwide. The GenCos in turn blamed TransyCo and the DisCos. It said weak transmission and distribution infrastructure was responsible for rendering the quantum of electricity generated inconsequential. They claimed further that they were owed N1.64 trillion. The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company disputes the figure.
That has been the unfortunate lot of Nigerians since the power assets sales of 2013. Instead of the targeted benefits of privatisation and liberalisation under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005, incompetence, under-investment, debt, subsidies, frequent tariff increases without service delivery and resultant power shortages have persisted. Irritatingly, finger-pointing and buck-passing among the sector’s arms are prevalent. Amid the chaos, the regulator, and the Federal Government dither, gyrating helplessly while the economy and the people suffer. There should be an end to this debacle.
The Federal Government and relevant stakeholders must come together to institute reforms to boost generation and decentralise transmission. Countries desirous of industrial growth, flourishing commercial enterprise and human capital development have moved beyond basic electricity sufficiency to diversifying their energy sources. Nigeria should aspire to this stage.
The timing of this grid collapse could not have been worse, when Nigerians spend hours in long fuel queues, the naira is taking a battering and the prices of diesel, and consequently, transportation, food, and services have skyrocketed. Inflation rate of 15.7 per cent in February is expected to rise sharply. The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission is weak and should be rejuvenated.
As this newspaper has long canvassed, the privatisation of the sector, having been marked by fraud and treacherous cronyism, has failed and should be reviewed urgently. The emergency investors who cornered the 11 DisCos and six GenCos unbundled from the defunct state monopoly have grossly under-performed. The DisCos refuse to meter consumers. The much-needed foreign direct investment, technical and managerial know-how as well as massive infrastructure roll-out and job creation have not materialised.
Indeed, the increase in generation capacity from 4,000 megawatts to 12,522MW is powered by the nationally funded National Integrated Power Project’s over 8,000MW. The TCN has only slightly raised its capacity to wheel power beyond 5,000MW despite ambitious claims. For Africa’s largest economy, with a $445 billion GDP, and population of 211 million, these figures are grossly inadequate.
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria says its members spend not less than 30 per cent of their production cost on generators. Over 40 per cent extra in total are added to costs making Nigerian goods uncompetitive. South Africa, with a population of 59.31 million generates 58,095MW from diverse sources, and Egypt 59,063MW for 102.3 million people.
Nigeria needs an urgent power revitalisation programme. First, the Federal Government must let go of its stake in DisCos and GenCos and persuade investors in the former to dilute their shares to make way for reputable global players. Without FDI, the sector that requires $1 trillion for power infrastructure as assessed by the African Development Bank, cannot be transformed.
The programme should target harnessing a rich mix of energy sources, including wind, solar, hydro, thermal and coal. The current 1,080MW from solar and 1,936MW from hydro are insignificant, given the country’s potential. The rest are gas-fired.
The concession of five hydropower dams by the Federal Government in 2019 and the 12 others listed for concession in 2021 should be reviewed and fast-tracked. Concessionaires who violate the terms of the agreement should be penalised and their licences withdrawn. Similarly, the recurring low gas pressure that incapacitates the thermal engines should be urgently addressed.
It is embarrassing for a country that has 209.5 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and is the eighth largest producer in the world to suffer power outages on account of lack of gas to power its thermal power plants. Therefore, the Nigerian Gas Company must be innovative and boost gas supply so that all the thermal stations can function optimally. The sub-sector should be liberalised to attract investors and promote competition and efficiency. Entities that owe one another in the supply chain should be compelled to settle their debts so as not to truncate the smooth running of the sector.
The government should fast-track its $2.3 billion deal with Siemens, aimed at boosting power generation and transmission to 25,000MW by 2025.
The transmission arm of the value chain should also be overhauled; lacking investment, the transmission lines are weak and obsolete. As a federation, control over power should be decentralised and state governments should invest in electric power through Public-Private Partnership, build regional and mini transmission grids and IPPs.
Without adequate and stable power, the economy cannot improve substantially, jobs created, or poverty eradicated. Buhari and the state governors should move fast to solve the power crisis.
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