By Itaobong Offiong Etim
When the immediate past administration concluded the privatisation project that began with the 2004 power sector reform, many Nigerians were happy, hoping that the era of darkness was finally over. These supposed halcyon days ending the ugly, dark past were to begin in 2013 with the formal handover of public power supply companies to private owners.
It is generally believed that government has no hand in business, hence the hope that private investors would do better in the management of the nation’s electric power sector. However, no one bothered to check the performance of other public corporations previously privatised.
Everyone was tired of the tyranny of government’s monopoly of the inefficient electricity companies. Therefore, the coming of private managers of the nation’s electricity sector was seen as the much needed panacea that would end the perennial darkness plaguing the country.
But four years on, Nigerians feel short-changed as the deplorable power situation does not offer any hope of abating in the future. If the rationale for privatisation is to achieve increased efficiency and productivity, then those superintended the privatisation process did not mean well for the country. The electricity situation in the country since the November 1, 2013 kickoff date for the takeover of the power industry by private operators has left Nigerians wondering if the former regime of the defunct Power Holding Company was not better. In fact, others have even clamoured for NEPA to return.
One year since the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy remarked that DISCOs were performing worse than PHCN and NEPA, no positive development has been noticed in the sector. The power situation has shown no sign of improvement since the private investors, nay harvesters, took over the generation and distribution of electricity in the country. All over the country, residents of major towns have repeatedly groaned under the yoke of darkness, a development which has sparked off protests in many towns with calls for a review of the privatisation programme by government.
It is now in the public domain that the Goodluck Jonathan-led government bequeathed the nation’s power assets to people who neither have expertise in the industry nor the financial capacity to deliver, thus plunging the country into darkness. They were driven by greed to maximise profits. The desire to improve the power supply situation was never on their agenda. They are opportunists who came to harvest and not to invest. Judging from the way they hurried to take over the business with no sufficient time for feasibility studies, it was clear that they lacked what it takes to function in the electric power sector. They appeared desperate, always asking how much they were going to earn monthly and did not bother about what they would inject into the system.
With the sector be-devilled by obsolete power infrastructure, weak power lines, insufficient distribution transformers and sundry other inadequacies, the hope of stability of power supply remains a mirage. True investors are patient and would nurture the system until it matures. Today, Nigerians are made to pay for inefficiency and inexperience of the new owners of the power industry. They pay for electricity which they did not consume and efforts to supply meters to them are frustrated by the so-called investors. They do this purposely so that crazy bills would continue to be issued to the hapless customers.
Nigerians have justifiably concluded that the immediate past government sold off the nation’s power assets to itself and its cronies. But, what is surprising is that President Muhammadu Buhari has not responded to the cries of the exploited and traumatised Nigerians.
The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) recently described the privatization as a scam, saying that the bidding process was not transparent. Also, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has accused DISCOs of frustrating government’s efforts at providing stable power supply to the citizens for selfish reasons. Similar accusations were also made by the GMD of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Mr. Makanti Baru, when he expressed disappointment over the power companies’ inability to utilise the available gas for generation of more megawatts of electricity to meet the nation’s needs. Epileptic power supply and prolonged periods of darkness have equally taken a toll on the manufacturing sector of the economy. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) shocked Nigerians when it disclosed that it costs its members N9 billion daily to generate power for production in their various factories. This situation has also aggravated the economic problems of the country.
Nigerians are wondering if stable power supply will still be a campaign promise in 2019. Government should stop following the 2004 electricity roadmap as it is leading nowhere. With the current electricity companies, whatever amount that government sinks into the sector will surely go down the drain. Government should realise that with this crop of electricity managers, the hope of stable electricity supply may not be realised.
Government should develop a new direction with strategic projects that can urgently take the country out of this pervasive darkness. Such roadmap should study the success stories of sufficient electricity supply in countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Qatar, Britain, US and Canada. These countries generate enough power to meet both the domestic and industrial needs of their citizens.
Etim writes from Cross River.