NIGERIANS may have to wait longer for solutions to epileptic power supply in the country, despite the two-week assurance from the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu.
Some power sector governance experts who spoke against the backdrop of the minister’s assurance said there were no quick remedies to Nigeria’s power sector problems.
On Tuesday, March 24, the minister of power, whose performance has been rated very low by Nigerians, apologised for the poor power supply and promised that the problems would be solved in two weeks.
“I want to apologise, coming from me as a minister of power, for this temporary issue that is leading to hardship being experienced,” he said.
Adelabu said the apology was necessary given the dry season, which has caused extreme heat and disrupted businesses, schools, and industries.
He said the Federal Government had taken decisive steps to address persistent gas supply challenges in the power sector, noting that the Middle East tension had created a market for Nigerian gas companies, as they are uninterested in vending to the Nigerian power sector due to indebtedness as a result of over N6 trillion debt.
The Minister’s assurances have raised several unanswered questions about the sector, which has been crawling and riddled with debts despite privatisation.
A power sector governance expert, Dan Kunle, believes the minister speaks theory and his knowledge about the sector is not deep enough.
“The crisis was building up since 2015 when the electricity tariffs were frozen for several years, and investors left. Even GENCOs at some point declared force majeure because of growing debts. The producers of gas are handicapped as they need a firm gas-take-and pay contract agreement that is irrevocable.”
Kunle said the gas debts were signs that gas offtake agreements were not honoured and had accumulated over time, worsening the current power problems.
He argued further that the privatisation of the power sector wasn’t properly sustained post -privatisation with the government freezing tariff severally for political reasons, which scared investors.
He stressed the importance of privatising the Nigeria Gas Company to operate on a business basis level.
“Manitoba, which has the concession to manage TCN left back to Canada and TCN has been underperforming. It’s a value chain problem in the power sector. No quick fixes, and we must do the right thing,” he stressed.
Kunle believes that the entire electricity structure has to be overhauled.
Another power sector governance expert, Kunle Kola Olubiyo, told The ICIR that the inability of the Nigerian government to honour debt obligations to the power generation companies remained a major concern for the sector.
“The gas producers are owed arrears of about N6 trillion. This is even the cost of gas already supplied and sold to gas thermal and gas fired power generation plants. The gas producers said they were not willing to sell more gas to the electricity sector because of violations of gas take-off contracts,” he stated.
Despite privatisation, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) has not released more than 5000 megawatts of power to distribution companies over time.
The ICIR reports that the 11 power Distribution Companies (DisCos) on Tuesday, March 24, received 2,793 Megawatts(MW) of electricity from the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
A breakdown of the 2,793MW sent by Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), the nation’s power system operator, showed Abuja DisCo receiving 503MW. It was followed by Ikeja DisCo, 497MW; Eko DisCo, 424MW; Ibadan DisCo 314MW; Benin DisCo, 212MW; Enugu DisCo, 203MW; Port Harcourt DisCo, 183MW; Kano DisCo, 142MW; Kaduna DisCo, 133MW; Jos DisCo, 119MW; and Yola DisCo 63MW.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.