POWER SECTOR IN PERSPECTIVE, A REMINDER TO BUHARI:

Written by LUCAS ANUFORO, Dublin Ireland

Email: peter.lemachi@yahoo.com

“The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.”... Brandon Sanderson.

The Nigerian power inefficiency still remains the bane of the country’s gateway to industrialisation. The country economic power will only thrive and surge when the government shows consensual effort through mettle mechanism in boosting the power sector.

The nation at moment consumes about 3,000 megawatts of electricity which by any standard cannot sustain the demand of a country with a huge population like Nigeria. The Kainji dam is the main source of the nation’s power supply that was built between 1964 and 1968 by a consortium of Italian Civil Engineering Contractors and was designed by joint Consultants, Balfour Beatty and Nedeco a British company. The total cost of the project was estimated at £87 million with one-quarter of the said amount used for resettlement of people that were displaced by the giant construction. Other sub stations include the Shiroro Hydro Electric Power station in Niger State and Jebba Hydro Electric power station each with power capacity of 540 Megawatts ( 720,000 hp). Above all these power outlets, none has ever met the demand of the country’s insatiable quest for steady power supply.

It is horrendous that successive administrations in the past promised to stabilize the epileptic power system but failed, due to lack of well co-ordinated plan of action and inherent corruption from the leaders despite billions of dollars the government claimed to have spent. Nigerian power system is said to be amongst the worst in the world. Irrespective of transition and reforms the power sector had gone through from National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to Power Holding Company Nigeria (PHCN) the situation still remains the same. The country has all it takes to be sufficient in power supply with enormous resources such as Coal and Gas perhaps could have help solve the country’s power outage problem for decades ago. 

The coalfield at Enugu invariably, with proper and good utilization policy stands at advantage of giving the country steady power supply it requires. It can equally export the excess of this power to its neighbours if well managed this can also create additional revenue drive to the economy and also employment opportunities to the populace.

As the world economy is changing each day with new technologies, the country need to be part of the revolution. Germany recently, moved from its predominantly nuclear power source to renewable energy (wind turbine). This means by 2022 Germany will face out all its nuclear power stations eight has already been shut down this will however give way to more reliable, safe and less- emission system that would help keep the environment cleaner and healthier.        

More so few months ago Ghana proposed passing a Nuclear Regulatory Bill that was waiting for presidential assent before being officially signed into law. This details the establishment of regulatory authority to ensure, the safe and responsible use of nuclear materials that will help the country to achieve building nuclear power stations. Although, Ghana for long time has been enjoying steady power supply compared to other of its West African neighbours.

Many Nigerians now invest in Ghana especially in the area of real estate business and some now send their children to study there. Most Nigerians have relocated permanently to Ghana at least to where they can transact hitched- free business without power outage. Only last year (2014) the country celebrated 10 years of uninterrupted power supply, an expectation most Nigerians can only dream about.

Eskom a giant South African power company generates about 34 000 megawatts of electricity through coal. The power plant is located at the proximity of the coalfield in Mpumalanga in the Northern Province which goes through plant process on the conveyor belt, crushed into fine powder and burned under controlled conditions in the modern boilers that produce high pressure steam. Then the steam drives turbines that generate the electricity while the smoke from the boiler is cautiously filtered to eliminate as much of the unwanted emission as possible. The country also has the nuclear plants that generate power. Iran for instance with the population of 70 million generates about 42, 000 megawatts while South Korea with about 35 million people generates 60,000 megawatts of electricity. The lists of countries that have overcome problem of power outage are endless. 

These are technologies a country like Nigeria needed to excel as an economic powerhouse but regrettably, the corrupt leaders who runs the affairs of the nation failed to put things right. South Africa is ahead of other countries in the continent in terms of economic development and technological advancement because of the quality of economic structures they have in place.

The strength of any economy lies on the stability of power supply which helps to galvanize the economy more so attract foreign investors. According World Bank statistic, it shows that only about 48% of Nigerian population has access to electricity.  This has created serious consequences to the  economy and also to Nigerians who have the ambition to set up little businesses and entrepreneurs who wanted to establish and enlarge their coast but they couldn’t, because the cost of running business without constant electricity will be very expensive. However it also discourages some foreign investors who try to invest in the country. 

According to Vanguard newspaper publication of 14 August 2015 with a tabloid captioned ‘Power sector: Senate probe OBJ, Yar’Adua and Jonathan.’ The newspaper stated that “While the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly spent $16bn (N3.52 trn), his successor, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, expended $5.375bn or N1.183 trn while the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration spent $8.26bn (N1.817 trn). Piqued by the poor power situation, late President Yar’Adua, on assuming power in 2007 said that “the government under President Olusegun Obasanjo wasted $10bn on the national Independent Power Project, NIPP with little or nothing to show for it.”  “The then House of Representative Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, put his own figure at $16bn and proceeded to set up a committee headed by Ndudi Elumelu to probe the billions of dollars spent on the independent power project” the paper stated.

The Vanguard also revealed that “about 2,500 containers of imported power equipments worth about $5bn were abandoned at the Lagos ports with the demurrage generated by the abandoned equipments put at over N4bn. Investigation revealed that the equipment formed part of the $16bn that was expended within Obasanjo’s eight years.”

In contrast the nation has wasted much resources and the fact still remains that the leaders who've messed up the economy find it so hard to admit reason, because they believed that Nigeria as a country is too small for them to explore and also a patrimony, both everything that is in it, belong to them and to their tenth generation to come.  No country in the world can develop its economy or have a rapid development with the type of waste the so-called leaders of Nigeria have subjected the country into. Until President Buhari take a bold step to clamp down the mafia syndicates at the high echelon corridors of power corruption will continue to manifest its presence in all facet of the country’s life.  

If President Buhari really means business he should emulate from the current Chinese leader Xi Jinping who took a bold step to hunt down all corrupt bourgeois and politicians who tried run down the Chinese economy. For the anti-graft war to succeed a new tribunal should be set up that will try both the past military head of State and civilians Presidents. This will look into their activities during their tenures of office not the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to be in charge because the body is yet to win public confidence on issues pertaining crime investigation and anyone found guilty of misconduct or misappropriation of public coffer should face the full weight of the law.

In essence the public are still waiting for the very day the long the arm of the law will finally caught up with all those who striped the nation’s commonwealth and plunge the poor masses of Nigeria into misery and poverty. In the civilized society leaders are accountable for their deeds; they never escape justice when they are found guilty. Unlike in Africa the where leaders who embezzled public funds brag and throw lavish parties and even use the stolen wealth to fight the government.     

For Nigeria to overcome the scourge of power outage President Buhari should declare the power sector as state of emergency and let the ministry that is in charge of Power to be under the presidency this will help to optimize the heavy budget being spent on power and also enable the President to have direct supervision and the quarterly reports of the ministry’s activities.

At present, President Buhari has shown resolute in his war against corruption he should extend this gesture with a holistic approach to other areas of the economy. It could be that in his era the country will witness a great change in the power sector an achievement other previous administrations failed to accomplish. The President should be reminded that he is like an athlete representing the country in an international competition the prayers of the nation is for him succeeds. This reminds me of a quote from Brandon Sanderson in his book ‘The Well of Ascension’; “A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them.” Buhari the country accept you! Let the change you bring reflect in the power sector.

Lucas Anuforo is Freelance Journalist

Twitter:@anuforo