Power Reform
and Electricity Generation
By
Victor Ifedi
culled from
GUARDIAN, March 21, 2005
The law which established the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) in
1972 stipulated that it should develop and maintain an efficient, co-ordinated
and economical system of electricity supply for all parts of Nigeria. Thirty
three years after, we are still in the doldrums as far as power availability is
concerned. At the inception of NEPA in 1973, only five of the then 19 state
capitals were connected to the national transmission grid system. Today,
practically all state capitals are being served from the national grid, although
haphazardly.
NEPA's original plan to meet with increase in power demand includes building
adequate power-generating facilities to cope with the forecast load demand with
reasonable allowance for spare or reserve plant capacity to permit normal
maintenance and forced outage at each particular period. However, NEPA is
confronted with reckless development of towns which hampers its efforts. Such
distortions create immense problems. In most cases, small industries suddenly
spring up in areas planned as residential. Consequently, transformers and cables
are overloaded till they are damaged because NEPA is not notified when new loads
are added to existing ones.
In developed countries, the electricity authority is usually informed about
projects at the planning stage. In Nigeria, NEPA only gets to know when projects
are about to be commissioned at which point the authority is expected to cope.
Too frequently, NEPA tries hard to accommodate the resulting increase in power
demand with great difficulty. In the circumstances, the in-built reserve in the
network is then quickly eaten up and any slight problem puts everybody in
darkness. It is therefore, necessary for all prospective commercial customers,
industrialists, state and federal government establishments dealing with new
projects to inform NEPA of their electricity requirements at the earliest
opportunity to enable the authority to reinforce existing facilities and modify
plans to accommodate new loads on schedule.
A critical analysis of the operations of NEPA indicates that a monopolistic
NEPA has been literally biting more than it can chew. The Fourth National
Development Plan (1981 to 1985) exposed the very rapid increase in power demand
at over 20 per cent per annum. That makes it difficult for the installed
capacity to cope with the requirements of the present economy. The result is
load shedding which generally disrupts domestic life as well as the
manufacturing activities. For logistic and financial reasons, electricity plants
are not usually adequately maintained. Thus, actual output tends to fall
significantly below installed capacity.
One factor which has not been properly addressed since our political
independence is the inadequate manpower in NEPA especially in the professional,
managerial and technical personnel. NEPA does not have sufficient indigenous
manpower to deal with the sophistication necessary in a modern energy and power
industry. The situation is compounded by the politicisation of key positions
under the cover of federal character and geographical representation syndrome.
Coupled with that is our over-dependence on overseas manufacturers for the
supply of power plants, equipment, facilities and spare parts. These inhibit our
efforts to ensure a regular and prompt supply of electricity.
According to the last National Rolling Plan, the current installed generation
capacity in Nigeria's power industry is 4800 kilowatts. Out of this capacity,
NEPA is able to generate at peak demand only about 3000 kilowatts. The major
factors for the under-utilisation of existing installed capacity are frequent
breakdown of generation plant and equipment because of inadequate repairs and
maintenance, lack of spare parts and high costs of spare parts as a result of
the depreciation of the naira in the international currency exchange market.
NEPA also has to cope with the periodic low level of water at Kainji and
Shiroro dams especially during the dry season. The economic and social costs of
power supply interruptions have been quite substantial due to the predominating
utilisation of private generators for homes and industries with its health and
fire hazards, disruption of scheduled productive activities and reductions in
operation. The proposed national integrated rural development has suffered
severe setbacks following disabilities experienced in the process of rural
electrification.
A comparative analysis of electric energy generation in other countries
places Nigeria at a relatively bottom scale. The United States of America
generates 500,000 megawatts for the population of about 260 million. United
Kingdom generates 43,000 megawatts for its population of about 60 million. South
Africa generates 23,000 megawatts for its population of about 45,000 million
while Argentina generates 9,500 megawatts for its population of about 32
million.
In his speech on May 29, 2003 at the inauguration for second term, President
Olusegun Obasanjo promised to increase our electricity generation to 10,000
megawatts by 2007 for our population of about 140 million. The backwardness of
Nigeria in the energy sector is a sad reflection of our economic retrogression
in spite of our purported oil wealth. This is a tragic manifestation of the poor
and ineffective leadership since our political independence in 1960. Power
availability is a critical index in economic and industrial evolution.
Our fervent hope for power revolution lies in the Power Reform Act which
unfortunately was delayed by the National Assembly and the Presidency for three
years during which more than N140 billion or 2.4 per cent of the country's gross
domestic product was lost to power outage. The Power Reform Act will hopefully
unbundle NEPA, remove its monopoly stranglehold and liberate the energy sector
for optimal performance. It will expectedly boost investors' confidence and
attract substantial foreign direct investment into the power sector. There is an
urgent need to conduct a manpower audit in the power sector with a view to
locating the critical areas of personnel deficiency. Competent foreign experts
should be injected into that sector in order to re-engineer operations and train
local staff.
The Federal Government should revisit its noble proposals previously
underlined in the Third and Fourth National Development Plans and implement them
religiously. Firstly, to conduct short and long term requirements of the
specialised skills including power plant engineers, system planners and
specialists in the installation and maintenance of equipment.
Secondly, to establish a National Energy Commission responsible for the
formulation and implementation of the national energy policy on a continuing
basis. Proper account should be taken on the comparative economies of utilising
the various alternative sources. Thirdly, to reduce our dependence on
hydro-electricity and encourage more use of coal and gas for power generation.
All those implicated in the mismanagement of resources, fraud and the
deplorable performance of NEPA in recent times must be removed from service. The
Power Reform Act should be widely publicised in local and international media to
maximise its impact.
Ifedi, a railway pensioner, lives in Lagos
