The minister with
responsibility for Nigeria ’s
pivotal power sector, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has recently released what he calls
“a roadmap for change” in the sector. It is commendable that his effort in this
arena will be underscored by planning and more so that he has chosen to share
this plan with the public. This conveys a sense of mission.
*Fashola |
Fashola’s roadmap is
not different in any material way from the August 2010 “Roadmap for Power
Sector Reform” the robust roadmap that was developed by the previous
government. Incidentally, despite the lofty agenda of that apparently
painstakingly-crafted plan, six years later, Nigeria still totters on circa
5000MW of power-generating and -transmission capacity respectively.
While such factors as
corruption and insincerity of purpose can be listed among the causes of the failure
of that otherwise meticulous plan, there is no doubt that hordes of genuine
problems many of which hallmark the famed difficulty of doing business in
Nigeria are also contributors. One of the most instructive but least recognised
of these problems, in my view, has been citizen disinterest, arising from an
inability or unwillingness of government to carry citizens along on its
implementation journey. Not unexpectedly, therefore, initial public excitement
soon gave way first to apathy and thereafter, sheer derision. If Fashola’s
roadmap is not to go the way of its predecessor, it is pertinent that it is
ardently confronted and interrogated by the average citizen.
Even without expressly stating it, Fashola may have tactically reduced Nigeria ’s power
target over the next five years by half. While the original roadmap set a
target of 40000MW by 2020, Fashola has cut this to 20000MW, stating that the
Transmission Company of Nigeria ,
“TCN, has expressed a desire” to increase transmission in a stepwise manner from
today’s 5000MW through to 20000MW over the next five years.
What is the basis of
the “desire” by the TCN to increase transmission capacity to 20000MW? Was it
sequel to a proper feasibility study that articulated the technical, manpower,
financial and other considerations?
In the face of the
paucity of information regarding investment in the power sector, the 40000MW
target by 2020 has long been unrealistic. But is there anything to suggest that
this new target is realistic? How does the government intend to catalyze
developments in the power sector to achieve a 400 per cent rise in power
generating and transmitting capacity in a mere five years?
Fashola’s roadmap is
silent on the level of funding (including private-sector-led and other direct
foreign investment) that the power sector has so far attracted. Is this data
unavailable or is this a case of inability or unwillingness to gather and
process data? For such vital information is a critical compass of sorts with
which an interested public monitors progress in an industry. In the same vein,
government needs to let Nigerians know how it intends to plug the gaps in the
areas of capital inflows into the industry. It needs to explain more
tactically, for instance, the imperative of jacking up electricity tariffs.
Government ministries,
departments and agencies have historically been notorious defaulters in the
area of paying electricity bills. What is Fashola’s plan to redress this? Are
there specific incentives with which the power ministry is enticing investors
for instance? Given the challenges that the distribution companies are facing
with installing electricity meters in consumers’ abodes, why are they not being
incentivised to patronise local manufacturers or assemblers of electricity
meters?
What is government
doing with regard to drastically minimizing the nightmare that conducting
business in Nigeria
has become for every legitimate business? What is being done to rid the country
of the hordes of rent-seeking roadblocks from sundry agencies of all levels of
government and even local communities?
Incidentally, Fashola
mentions the crucial case of 907 abandoned equipment-bearing containers at the Lagos ports, but fails to
address the more critical issue of the underlying causes. Would any company
deliberately import container loads of equipment and abandon them at the ports?
What is government doing about reforming the ports and its processes? Should we
be realistically talking about revving up a logistic-intensive power sector and
unveiling power targets from time-to-time when we have an evidently
dysfunctional port regime?
Fashola states that Nigeria ’s power
generating companies are sub-optimised. For instance, of their installed 140
turbines which can generate up to 12000MW, only about 78 which can generate a
peak of some 5000MW are operational. Given that these plants have either been
long concessioned or sold to private investors, what has caused the delay in
bringing the plants to full functionality? Have the plants been so damaged by
irregular maintenance over the years that it is impossible to replace or repair
the damaged turbines? Are the generating companies unable to access the capital
to finance these repairs or replacements? Or is it a case of unavailability of
expertise? Fashola merely gives the impression that the overhaul is currently
ongoing which will guarantee “incremental power.”
Fashola also talks
about an imperative to enrich the power mix by embracing other means of power
generation than water and gas, but does not support this with evidence to show
that anything significant is truly happening in this arena. Is there a
blueprint with which the government intends to tackle this issue for instance?
Are there offshore partners providing the relevant technical support? Is there
a timeline for delivery?
The 2010 roadmap gave a December 2013 deadline for the completion of NIPP
projects upon which they would deliver some 5000MW to the national grid. As
this target was obviously not achieved, what are the remedial plans to help
ensure these plants are finalised? What is the timeline for this?
Fashola has a big task
to rekindle public interest in the power sector. Such interest will be critical
at helping to mobilise social support including oversight for the activities in
the sector. Social oversight will help the industry strive to achieve set
targets even while availing it of the moral and other support with which to
overcome such problems as tariff collection and others.
In rekindling public
interest, Fashola would need to discard the politician garb and step into the
SMART mode of the private sector. He would need to underscore his objectives
with benchmarks that are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Result-oriented and
Timely. This way, stakeholders can have tangible aspects of the overall power
roadmap on which to demand accountability from the government.
*Okoruwa works for
XLR8, a communications consultancy.
No comments:
Post a Comment