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.