LAGOS—PRESIDENT Goodluck Ebele Jonathan said, yesterday, he planned to eliminate constant power outage in the country by 2012 through theintroduction of ‘revolutionary’ policies to tackle the plethora ofchallenges bedeviling the sector.
The president’s aspiration was unveiled in Lagos at the launch of the Power Sector Road Map, the execution of which he said, would befast- tracked to create numerous employment opportunities, while alsorevamping the nation’s ailing economy.
PRESIDENT Goodluck Ebele Jonathan during his arrival in Lagos
President Jonathan who said: “We need a revolution in the power sector,” also stated that his administration had identified most of thebottlenecks impeding efficient and effective electricity supply in thecountry.
He noted: “By God’s grace, by December 2012, Nigeria will not only celebrate one day of uninterrupted electricity supply but we wouldcelebrate one week, one month and so on of uninterrupted electricitysupply.”
President Jonathan, however, believed that this will only be possible through the support of the various stakeholders, who arecurrently being engaged in constructive discussions on sustainable waysout of the current power quagmire.
New policies
Parts of the revolutionary polices the President enunciated include:
*The construction of what he described as “a super transmission network of 7000 Kilovolts, the procurement and design will commencenext year.” This is in acknowledgement of the current weakness inelectricity infrastructure, which frustrates the evacuation ofelectricity from the plants to the homes of Nigerians through thenational grid.
*Review of current tariff structure on the grounds that Nigeria’s current structure is the lowest and needs to be reviewed to encouragefresh investments, while not unmindful of the purchasing power of themasses
*Generation of additional 5000mega watts within the next three years from new and existing independent power plants
*Active and serious exploitation of hydro, nuclear and coal power, especially coal in states like Gombe, Enugu, Kogi and Benue states inthe next two years, which will be more private-sector driven
*Privatization of generation and distribution, while government retains transmission for strategic reasons
*Constitution of two presidential committees on power and the reconstitution of the board and membership of the National ElectricityRegulatory Commission, NERC, whose names have been forwarded to theNational Assembly for approval
Power challenges
The president said his assessment of the issues affecting the sectorover the past few years, revealed that “the sector’s challenge toeffective electricity delivery in Nigeria include the absence ofsustained policies and deliberately deploying long term powerdevelopment strategy, the absence of and low implementation of reformsto fast track all issues pertaining to the power sector.”
The President who was flanked by ministers, advisers and state governors, said Government was convinced that “it is only byconstructively engaging the private sector as partners in this journeyof national transformation that we can be assured of success.”
President Jonathan with Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola at the event
He added that constant power outages are perhaps the greatest paradox of life in Nigeria, which despite producing more than twomillion barrels per day of crude oil, relied on diesel generators topower everything from phone chargers to luxury hotels.
Powerful vested interests
World Bank country director, Onno Ruhl, who noted that successivegovernments had tried to fix the power problems, stressed that powerfulvested interests such as billionaire tycoons who import diesel andgenerators, and the chronic mismanagement of state-run utilitiesfrustrated progress in the sector.
He said: “This roadmap brings us to a point where we finally have a realistic plan that is actually technically, commercially sound, interms of the role of the private sector, the role of government. Thequestion is, will all the partners behind it actually rally around itand implement it … If it gets implemented, it will deliver results.”
Ruhl noted that fighting the graft and mismanagement that had hobbled the sector will be more of a political test than laying outplans, adding that in the challenges to reform listed by ministers andofficials, the issue of corruption was conspicuous by its absence.
Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga, said: “If there is anything that unites Nigerians, it is a desire for power, electricity,” adding thathis ministry was focused on creating the right environment to attractinvestment as quickly as possible.
He said the nation had the world’s seventh_largest natural gas reserves and planned to use them as the source for improving powersupply.
Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison_Madueke, said gas supply to the power sector was already at an all_time high but estimated that demandfrom domestic energy producers would rise to 3 billion cubic feet perday by 2015 from around 800 million now.
She said that President Jonathan had already announced plans for a $3.5 billion transmission “supergrid” to be jointly financed with theprivate sector, while the privatisation agency had said it was seekingcore investors for 11 state_run electricity distribution firms.
Bomb Disposal squad at the airport during Jonathan's visit to Lagos yesterday.
Allison-Madueke said some of the firms in highly populated and relatively developed areas such as Lagos were likely to attractsignificant interest from foreign investors, potentially triggeringbidding wars, adding that others in less-developed areas and withgreater infrastructure challenges may be less attractive.
$12bn investment in energy, transportation
In another development, Vice President Namadi Sambo said the FederalGovernment has invested $12 billion in tackling the problem of powersupply and the resuscitation of the nation’s rail transportation system.
Sambo who was addressing members of the Nigerian community in Bujumbura, shortly after the inauguration of President PierreNkurunziza of Burundi, said the administration of President GoodluckJonathan was doing everything within its power to reduce the problem ofpoverty in the country.
Vice President Sambo said: “The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is doing everything to ensure that we drive out poverty fromNigeria, and also transform our society and improve our economy,”adding that the emphasis of the government was to address the powersupply problem in the country decisively.
He said: “We are doing a lot in the real sector, we are doing a lot in the power sector to ensure that power supply is being addressed withall the seriousness it deserves. The government is investing over $10billion in the generation, transmission and distribution of power so asto attract direct foreign investors in the sector.”
The Vice President stated that government would continue to give emphasis on medium and large power plants as well as coal power plantsfor generation of electricity supply in country. Stressing that thegovernment was putting a lot of efforts in developing our transportsystem, Sambo said: “Our old railway system is now brought back to useand new railway is being built. Over N2 billion is being invested inthis area.”
Earlier, the Head of Nigerian Mission in Burundi, Mr. Sheidu Momoh, had said that the few Nigerians residing in the country had beencontributing positively to the development of the country. He called onthe Federal Government to take advantage of the return of peace inBurundi to acquire permanent structures for the Nigerian Embassy in thecountry.
Comments