I have waited in expectation of something new from the power minister, Babatunde Fashola since he arrived office late 2015. My idea of ‘new’ is simple: I’m convinced the so-called privatisation of the power sector of 2014 wouldn’t take us to where we desire, so I expect a fundamental change in policy. Not long ago, I stated on this page that I wondered why Fashola hadn’t recommended a drastic reform to the President. That summarises my view about the minister’s approach since he came to office more than three years ago.
A few days back, the minister poured salt on the wound that Nigerians had collectively sustained in the hands of operators in the power sector. He said if Nigerians don’t have electricity, the government is not to blame. He explained that, “If you don’t have power, it is not the government’s problem… The people who are operating the power sector, generation and distribution, are now privately owned companies…So, for those of you who want to weaponise electricity, face the businessmen who have taken it up…My role is regulatory, oversight and policy…” But the matter isn’t as simple as Fashola presents it. There are fundamental problems with the sector that are rooted in “regulatory, oversight and policy” which Fashola doesn’t appear interested in addressing.
Let’s break it down. Much of what hampers Nigeria’s economic progress is linked to the shortage of power. The nation witnesses some crises which are traceable to unemployment. This is one problem that adequate power supply could significantly reduce. It’s the business of the government to address issues that contribute to unemployment.
Crises that are a fallout of unemployment cannot be the concern of the companies that are only in the power sector for the profit. When crises happen, the government is held responsible. Is the minister not thinking of the more serious troubles this nation could have if the current situation in the power sector persists? There are fundamental constraints in the current policy regarding a liberalised power sector that can adequately deliver. (I stated a few on this page last Friday). It’s the business of government to go back to the drawing board and address those constraints with a view to removing them. But the minister has become simplistic about everything, speaking to citizens in a way that indicates he doesn’t think fundamental problems exist. Yet, without addressing the root of the problem, moving on is impossible. How can it be otherwise when, for instance, we all send power generated to a national grid in a country of this size, a grid that collapses regularly like kid’s toy car, leaving all of us so vulnerable?
For instance, in the first eight days of 2018, the country’s power generation system collapsed six times. In the 2nd Quarter of 2018, electricity generation system collapsed three times. In a nation that needs at least 19,000MW to do anything on an industrial scale, the highest quantum of power on the grid in July was 4,684MW, with the lowest of 2,399.5MW in the same month. It’s not more investment in the national grid that we need, as some have canvassed. It’s breaking the chain into smaller pieces, thereby enabling states that want to generate and supply power to their people, as well as small companies that can generate and supply power to specialised large entities.
For a long while after he assumed office, I paid attention to Fashola’s words regarding this sector. I was hoping he would steer it in a direction that was fundamentally different from the past, and make the president realise the direction in which we were headed wouldn’t take us to where we wanted. I closely followed the trips he made around the country with regard to power generation. Fashola’s trips didn’t tell me anything about how he saw the way the sector was configured back in 2014. His trips didn’t give me a picture of his mindset regarding what many Nigerians had known since 2014 would ultimately constitute impediment to the effective and efficient delivery of power to Nigerians. To some Nigerians looking for a way out, there must have been a sense of something-is-going-to-happen about Fashola’s trips. But (as I pointed out last week on this page) the way that sector is structured never gave me such optimism. I know his effort is like pouring water from a barrel into a tea cup. The manner the sector is configured is the reason.
About a year ago, I began to get the impression that the minister wouldn’t do anything to this sector beyond inaugurating new power plants. I did, at the time he started talking positively about operators’ request for bailouts from government, as well as an increase in tariff. The so-called private operators who should bring investment funds into the sector turn to government for assistance. Now, the minister says citizens whose funds government gives private companies cannot turn to government. Tariff too was hiked at one stage. Yet, I know state capitals that I enter at 6pm and when I leave at 3pm the following day, there is no power supply. In the last five months, I know where electricity struggles to be available cumulatively for barely 10 hours a day. On some nights, there is total darkness. That’s at the individual level where most Nigerians that Fashola addressed could be found. He’s saying there can be no succour for helpless Nigerians. He’s saying citizens will have to continue to suffer under companies that are more interested in pocketing bailouts in order to recoup the pennies they bring into a sector that needs serious long term investors.
At the industrial or production level, the losses to the nation due to inadequate and erratic power supply are staggering. Which are we to consider? The textile sector that used to contribute so much to the economy in terms of employment but which has gone under? The manufacturing sector in general from which many giant participants have cut their losses, packed, moved to other nations and subsequently import their products into Nigeria? The figure of the losses linked to lack of needed power supply is such that one wonders how any nation could continue to watch the situation without taking some drastic measures. Fashola that time gave the impression that governments in other nations don’t step in to rescue this all important sector so as to make the economy head in the right direction. But we know differently with the regular and deliberate measures that the government in South Africa undertakes which have ensured the sector generates more than 10 times what Nigeria generates. We know electricity is a major driver of industrial activities in any upward looking economy. South African government is conscious of this so it doesn’t allow operators to run the sector as they please. With Fashola’s comment, one needs to ask if Nigeria isn’t interested in heading upward economically.
To put it mildly, the minister’s comment is disheartening. It is, not for Nigerians only, but investors who may have been looking forward to a change in policy that can remove the hindrances to effective service delivery in this sector. Truth is that the so-called private companies in this sector have said enough to show they’re unwilling to lift a finger anymore. They don’t care. Rather, they wait to outwait the government and make it succumb to their improbable demands. Their claim of poor infrastructure and inadequate funds show these companies can’t move us forward.
They are not technically competent companies with a focus on enduring presence in this high-end sector that can take them places beyond the borders of a nation that’s given to doing things at the level of mediocrity. These are commercial ventures of the simple buying and selling type. Buy, sell, pick the money, and run. How these entities were quickly put together and bought by the same people that sold power infrastructure on behalf of Nigerians back in 2014 did foretell the current crisis. Nigeria aspires to be listed among the 20 most industrialised economies in the world by 2020. Since the minister says inadequate power supply is the headache of companies in the power sector, is he also implying these companies are to blame when our other visions are not achieved because we don’t get electricity supply right?
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