Energy
As the countdown to the end of the 8-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling APC, it is obvious that the 40,000mw of electricity generation and distribution promised in 2015 has unfortunately joined the long list of unfulfilled promises of the government that came with the slogan of CHANGE & NEXT LEVEL.
By Benprince Ezeh
DESPITE the promise of ensuring constant electricity supply made by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, the country is daily experiencing power outages with national generation often dropping below 2000mw.
It will be recalled that during the presidential election campaign in 2015, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and presidential candidate promised to expand electricity generation and distribution to 40,000mw between four and eight years.
The party’s manifesto said: “The APC Government shall vigorously pursue the expansion of electricity generation and distribution of up to 40,000 megawatts in four to eight years.
“The party will also work assiduously at making power available from renewable energy sources such as coal, solar, hydro, wind and biomass for domestic and industrial use, wherever these prove viable,” it said.
The APC said that power remained at the centre-point of the development process, adding that all other indices of development anchor on it.
In 2016, President Buhari said that his administration had set a target of delivering 10,000 megawatts of electricity generation in the next three years. While addressing the National Economic Council, NEC, retreat held at the State House, Abuja, President Buhari said that that year alone the administration would add 2000 megawatts to the national grid.
“Nigerians’ favourite talking point and butt of jokes is the power situation in our country. But, ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer a laughing matter. We must and by the grace of God we will put things right.
“In the three years left for this administration we have given ourselves the target of ten thousand megawatts distributable power. In 2016 alone, we intend to add two thousand megawatts to the national grid,” he said.
Unfortunately, seven years into President Buhari’s administration, Nigerians still lack electricity and the electricity companies are only busy adjusting tariffs to suit their poor services and distract consumers from their inefficiencies.
Unconfirmed reports have it that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, had adjusted the tariffs payable to Discos. For instance, Kola Olubiyo, President, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, NCPN, said that his group had taken up the matter with the regulator last week.
He stated that while some customers said their tariffs were increased by N4, others could not actually give the amount observed in their bills. But there is no public confirmation yet by the NERC.
“They NERC raised it last week or there about, and it is like it is a N4 adjustment. Port Harcourt and Abuja DisCos raised it and in fact, I think it is across board.
“But what we are asking the regulator is that if they approve something that is going to affect our pocket without letting us know, it is like shaving our heads in our absence.
“They said labour was part of them and I said is that what labour went to negotiate for us? I was told that they have a structured table that has already been approved and it is just for them to implement,” he said.
“But if they have approved the table as they said, are they giving us the required services? You and I know that services have not improved. We are having a low generation and all manner of blame games,” Olubiyo added.
On March 22, the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said it’s currently providing $250 million to expand electricity distribution and transmission infrastructure as part of an emergency approach to ensure the stability of the country’s grid and power system.
The implementation of the emergency plan by the federal government follows the recent collapse of the national grid twice, which left the country without electricity supply.
The project, which will strengthen the interface between the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, and the electricity distribution companies, DISCOs is expected to gulp about N103 billion and spread across critical locations in the country.
Abubakar Aliyu, minister for power said the CBN funding would ensure the rehabilitation of critical interface infrastructure between Transmission and Distribution to increase and stabilize power delivery.
He explained that the project is in addition to the Siemens Presidential Power Initiative, PPI, which will bring in additional $2 billion or more to the Transmission Grid from the government.
According to him, the government is almost $4 billion secured by this administration to augment the grid. “It should be noted that many of these funds are being actively spent and the results will be felt over time.
“The interface projects along with others already being embarked upon by TCN bring ongoing projects in the transmission segment alone to 135 ongoing projects with 30 completed key Substation Projects and 12 transmission Lines,” Aliyu said.
Electricity consumers have condemned the new upward tariff adjustment by power distribution companies. They said it was worrisome that the government would allow Discos to raise electricity tariff amid fuel scarcity across the country
Speaking to Realnews, Tunde Olaruwaju, an electricity consumer, said that he sent his son to purchase N3,000 worth of electricity units from the vendor and after loading the token, he was shocked at the number of units he got.
“On January 16, I bought 66.6 units of electricity for N3,000, but to my surprise, last Wednesday, the same N3, 000 worth of electricity gave me 62.4 units of electricity. Previously it used to be N45 per unit, but on Wednesday I noticed that it now goes for N48 per unit. This is shocking because no announcement has been made about any increase in the cost of the electricity,” he said.
Chima Chukwu, another customer of Ikeja Electricity in Pako, said last Friday was when he realised a reduction in the number of units he got on his N10, 000 electricity purchase. Chukwu, who couldn’t comprehend the shortfall, lamented: “Last January, I bought N10, 000 worth of electricity from the vendor and got 221.8 units of electricity for it. But last Friday, I was surprised to notice that the same N10, 000 worth of electricity I bought fetched me 208 units. This is shocking. It means IE has increased electricity tariff without notifying us,” he said.
Stanley Ojo, a barber said that his problem is that he barely has electricity and lack of fuel is another issue.
“My N5000 recharge barely lasts for a month now unlike how it usually lasts.
“I am tired of the way they give light these days and I am thinking about taking my electricity off and concentrating on just the generator because they don’t even give the light anymore, but nowhere to get fuel without paying extra charges,” he said.
Tosin Adebayo, a resident in Ikeja said that he was surprised when he recharged his electricity early this year. “I was shocked to see 98.35 units instead of 137.28 units when I recharged my usual N5000.
“I had to call my neighbours to verify if it happened to them as well, and to my greatest surprise they said it did.
“This was something I recharged earlier this year, but now it’s another thing. The federal government should look into it because we are in a difficult time and things are hard,” he said.
Perhaps, improvement in electricity supply has joined the list of unfulfilled promises of President Buhari and the APC, which have less than a year to complete their eight-year tenure.
First published – March 28, 2022 @ 10:56GMT |
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Tags: APC CBN Kola Olubiyo NERC PPI President Muhammadu Buhari TCN
