IN spite of all the reforms and promises, electricity supply has remained epileptic because the power sector has remained an intractable problem. The turnaround expected to be brought about by billions of dollars expended on the sector has not materialised. The more the hype about anticipated improvement, the poorer has been the performance. For both domestic and industrial consumers, the situation is more frustrating than it has ever been because the deterioration in service delivery has been rapidly progressive.
When the government came up with the idea of privatisation, Nigerians were made to believe that the long-awaited solution was at hand. Hopes were raised and expectations were high that the change of ownership from government to private investors would infuse the desired expertise and business ethics into the sector. The new power sector in private hands to which Nigerians looked forward for a remarkable change for the better has so far been a disappointment.
The investors have not only failed to work the expected wonders, they have also not been able to sustain the poor level of performance they inherited from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). It is now 18 months since the privatisation of the sector came into effect and it has been 18 months of unfulfilled expectations for electricity consumers. With the high frequency of prolonged load shedding, the hours of power outage are now in multiples.
In the second half of April, power supply was reported to have dropped below 3,000 megawatts for a country with a population of about 170 million people. That power generation has been hovering around the same figure for about two decades should be a source of worry. The current fuel shortage in Nigeria has made it a double whammy for individuals as well as business enterprises. The petrol on which so many small-scale businesses depend has become a scarce commodity in a country being ravaged by massive unemployment. Hours are being wasted on fuel queues at filling stations to get the product to buy at inflated prices. Those in helpless situations have been patronising the black market where the prices are prohibitive.
There have been the usual lamentations about problems that are not new – the ruptured gas pipelines and inadequate water level at the hydro-electric plants. The modalities for tackling the problems of power generation at both the hydro and thermal plants should have been part of the reform package. How meaningful is a reform that does not take cognizance of, and proffer solutions to, existing problems before it is consummated?
As we have said in our previous editorial comments, the cost rather than the quality and regularity of the service has been the primary concern of most of the new owners. They are preoccupied with ways by which they can always rip off consumers by foisting higher tariffs on them even for services not rendered. They have been taking undue advantage of the fact that they are all monopolies like the defunct PHCN. It appears lost on them that they are being patronised in the areas carved out for them because the people only have the Hobson’s choice.
It is now clear that the utility has always failed to meet projected power generation target, whether under public control or private ownership. The Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, has come up with the argument that the commission’s lack of control over gas supply is responsible for its inability to project and guarantee the amount of electricity that can be generated. His position is that it will be possible to project and estimate power generation if the power sector and gas supply are brought under one central authority. He has, however, not explained how this will solve the problem of pipeline vandalisation. While blaming the failure to achieve the desired improvement in electricity supply on gas pipeline vandals, the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, has advised the in-coming administration to explore the coal, waste and solar energy options.
The minister and the NERC chairman are two key figures in the power sector and they were deeply involved in the privatisation process. Did they see the paper work in the change of ownership from government to private investors as everything a reform should entail?
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has called for a complete reversal of the privatisation programme. The electricity workers’ union even sees the entire programme as a fraud. Outgoing Minister Nebo, however, believes that such a step will set Nigeria back by many decades as he contends that it will put an end to the massive inflow of investments into the sector.
The incontestable fact is that so far it has been so bad. The in-coming government should take a holistic look at the power sector and the entire privatisation process and do the needful. Whatever step is taken, either in the short or long term, what is important is that the present situation should not continue.
Be the first to comment