Opinion: Nigeria’s Electricity Problem: FG Vs. DisCos, By Reuben Abati
The Buhari government simply needs to move beyond politics and sentiments. If President Buhari succeeds in solving the electricity supply conundrum in Nigeria, that alone will be enough legacy for his administration. He should listen only to those who know. Engineer Saleh Mamman has absolutely no clue.
The House of Representatives also conducted a probe of the electricity sector. The House Committee on Power led by Honorable Ndudi Elumelu accused the Obasanjo administration of having spent over $10 billion on the electricity sector without much to show for this. The Committee disclosed that between 2000 and 2007, the Obasanjo administration spent over $10 billion on various projects in the power sector; it raised questions and demanded answers.
President Jonathan had threatened, right from his early days in power, that he would privatise the PHCN, and reform the electricity sector. In due course, he launched a Power Sector Transformation Plan and gave full effect to the Nigeria Electricity Sector Regulatory Act of 2005. He commissioned and upgraded a number of power plants, including the Azura-Edo power plant, the first fully privately owned Independent Power Plant in Nigeria.
Needless politicking, sentiments and emotions have proven to be the bane of the electricity sector in Nigeria. Every minister of Power since 1999 has always been ready with an excuse for inefficiency. Babatunde Fashola, as Buhari’s minister of Power, Works and Housing heaped the blame on the privatisation process. Buhari’s NERC blames the DisCos and even threatened to revoke their licences.
Recently, we read in the media that the federal government has granted sovereign guarantee to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to build a gas pipeline from Ajaokuta to Kano for $2.8 billion, with about two captive gas-powered generating plants along the gas pipeline. But any discerning observer of the industry will ask whether this AKK should be a priority now, when you can deploy the $2.
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