By Adanu Moses
The power sector in Nigeria is no doubt one of the most
inefficient in meeting the needs of its consumers anywhere in the world. The
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which before now was a wholly
government-owned venture before it was sold to private entities was the
organisation governing the use of electricity in Nigeria. Renamed PHCN, it was
formerly the National Electric Power Authority (abbreviated NEPA).
For a better part of power generation history in Nigeria,
consumers have experienced more power outages than supply. This accounts for
why Nigerians humorously represented the acronyms NEPA and PHCN to mean -Never
Expect Power Always, Please Hold Your Candle Now. For a better share of
history, Nigerians have also blamed the power outages on the distribution
companies, saying they are in the habit of always holding onto power and
releasing only the bills. This is one of the stack truths and another is the
fact that Nigerians seem to have gotten themselves used to the incessant power
outages.
This leaves an
inquisitive mind asking, who is to blame? Considering the history of system
failures in Nigeria,
can we say the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is actually holding unto
the power? The simple answer is not farfetched. There is no power to hold unto.
At the end of 2014,
according to statistics gathered by the Heinrich Boll Foundation, Nigeria, the
country had an installed power generation capacity of 8,000 MW.But only 4,000
MW was being fed into the national grid. Several reasons were given for this
huge difference between capacity and actual generation but the reasons do not
reduce the energy need of the country which is ever on the increase. As at the
end of 2015, the electricity need of Nigeria stood above 40,000 MW and
research says 192,000 MW will be needed by 2030. With this huge gap, 80 per cent
of the population is left in darkness.
