By Sunday
Onyemaechi Eze
After the razzmatazz that accompanied the privatisation of the power sector in
2013, we have awaken to the obvious fact that the nation was manipulated and
misled by a few to believe that the best that could have happened to the sector
was to auction it. The bogus claim by these then power brokers that
privatisation provides every answer to the abysmal power supply situation in
the nation has also awfully failed to provide the desired results. The wool
placed over the eyes of Nigerians is gradually fallen off as many prominent
Nigerians have once again found their lost voices and picked up the guts to
constructively criticise the privatisation of the power sector.
A fiery social critic, human right activist and Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debts, Senator Shehu Sani has despite
the seeming conspiracy of silence amongst the elites lent his voice to this
horrible performance and failure of the post privatisation of the power sector.
In his words which summed up the general feelings of Nigerian he said, Power
supply has dropped to an unprecedented and embarrassing low level. We are in a
state of power paralysis. It’s ironic that high electricity tariff has only led
to low electricity supply. Our DISCOs are now distributing darkness. After the
privatisation of PHCN, we thought there will be light at the end of the tunnel,
but we only transited from the darkness of the tunnel to that of a cave.
Private power investors moved Nigeria
Also in line with the mood of the nation, the House of Representatives
has mandated its Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation to
investigate the investments and pledges made by power Distribution Companies
(DISCOs) and Generation Companies (GENCOs). The House also directed the
Committee to ascertain the revenue accrued to the companies and their level of
compliance with the privatisation agreements. This followed a motion by Rep.
Muktar Dandutse which was unanimously adopted by members through a voice vote.
Dandutse expressed concern over the prevailing situation after the takeover of
privatised Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by the successor companies.
He lamented among others that DISCOs “particularly charged arbitrary bills, not minding whether there was
outage or not.” The lawmaker said there had not been new investments by
DISCOs and GENCOs. He added that “transformers,
fallen electricity poles, prepaid metres and other basic infrastructure are
still being replaced or provided by states, local governments, communities and
individuals. Customers are being charged flat rates, which is unjustifiable in
this austere period, a situation that is causing untold hardships to the
people. He said that the money spent on such infrastructure by communities and
individuals could have been used to service other needs.” The House also
urged Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing to
collaborate with relevant agencies to ensure immediate amelioration of the
hardships being experienced by the people.
To this end, no matter how long the grains of truth are hidden
from manifestation, it must one day germinate and prevail. And when it does,
sanity and hope are restored but the damage done by deceit takes enormous time
and resources to knock things in good shape. It is evident that the sector is worse
off now than when it was not privatised. That the new owners have failed to
improve on the already existing bad situation which led to tinkering of
privatisation of the sector in the first place is absolutely clear. Look around
you and point at one value that has been added to the electricity supply chain
or the landmark achievement of the new owners. The vulture is feasting on the
already decayed carcass. There is little or no remarkable investment in terms
of engagement of competent manpower, upgrading the dilapidated infrastructure.
This has resulted to repeated outages, load shedding, frequent tripping and
collapse of the system which has become the lot of the power sector in recent
times.
Those who attempted to cover the sun with their mere five fingers
have seen the futility in their desperate bids to satisfy their masters to the
detriment of national interest. The chicken has finally come home to roost and
the lies could no longer withstand the potency of truth. From Maiduguri
to Port Harcourt and Enugu
One distribution company in the North-Western Nigeria has
unfortunately cultivated the habit of re-allocating functional transformers
from one community to another in a bizarre attempt to resolve the overwhelming
epileptic supply situation within its area of operations. This unusual way of
robbing Peter to pay Paul in electricity supply management is threatening the
fragile peace and creating tension. As the rain comes in torrents and storms
threatening weak networks, this same company which failed to stock enough poles
has instead resorted to scavenging for any non utilised ones either planted or
not within its franchise area as a possible way out of the dire situation.
The necessary funding the new owners’ claimed will be injected
into the sector has turned out to be one promise not kept and may not be kept.
Moreover, the Indian and Lebanese proxies the new owners paid to stand as
internationally acclaimed technical partners at the inception of the bidding
processes vanished immediately having done their beats leaving the nation to
continue to grapple with the same problem and some inflicted upon it by
institutions charged with the responsibilities of privatisation. The new
company’s apparently lack the requisite technical abilities and it was not a
hidden fact. The regulators were very much aware but declined to do the needful
in the interest of Nigeria
*Sunday Onyemaechi Eze is a Media and Communications
Specialist (sunnyeze02@yahoo.com; 08060901201)
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