It was not quite long since mega minister Babatunde Fashola promised ten thousand megawats, as Federal Government’s target for power supply in Nigeria by 2019. That was not a campaign assurance, as the promise was given after a victorious election combat. By 2019, the government would have been in power for up to three and half years, as the cabinet was not formed for the first six months. In a way, therefore, Fashola’s promise is an improvement on a similar hope by one of his predecessors, the late Bola Ige, who assured Nigerians of reasonable regular power supply within six months by 1999. Fashola would have served far longer as power minister than Bola Ige before he (the latter) was redeployed as federal attorney-general and minister of justice. The then President Olusegun Obasanjo was later to tell Nigerians in a national radio interview that in promising regular power supply within six months, the ex-power minister did not know what he was talking about.
Well, Obasanjo knew what he was talking about and spent some sixteen billion dollars on the same power problem for which his successor, the late President Umar Yar’Adua, said there was nothing to show. That was public money. Within Fashola’s short tenure, poor Nigerian consumers have been forced to assume responsibility for subsidising private investors in the power sector notoriously known as ‘’discos’’ (distributing companies), by as much as 45% rise in the monthly tarrifs. The stupid idea of the astronomic rise was that Nigerians must be prepared to pay for good services. Only lately did a Federal High Court rule the tarrif rise illegal, null and void, a monumental decision, which disco oppressors vouched to pursue to the Supreme Court. With or without the unreasonable tarriff hike of 45%, what are the prospects of Nigeria generating ten thousand megawats by 2019? Over the years, every plan of improving power supply had always been based on illusive tragedy, with the usual escape route widely open that all things being equal……
Unfortunately, in all matters of combating power shortage in Nigeria, things are never equal between the Federal Government on one hand and the economic saboteurs, smiling to banks after frustrating national efforts. A seeming long way to 2019, the situation is not better than the past with the ominous signs that not much, if any improvement can be made by that time. In fact, the longer the government sets a target for improving power supply, the faster the existing level of supply drops to astonishing and embarrassing low, almost automatically.
On the poor power supply in the country, things can never be equal as long as government does not recognise the enemity posed by the mafia of generator importers and assemblers in our midst, comprising mostly foreigners and their Nigerian collaborators. No other country in the world is the mafia so unshakably entrenched as in Nigeria. It is, therefore, an illusion to aim at substantially lighting up Nigeria by 2019 without employing additional strategies.
To register its presence and reassert its economic invincibility, the mafia is already frustrating the power minister’s projection of 10,000 megawats by 2019. We should, therefore, not waste time calculating ever reducing or eliminating power shortage in Nigeria. It is needless setting a target. Any effort at improvement should be a matter of adninistrative routine until success is attained. Another weak structure in the foundation of battling poor power supply in Nigeria to an end is by making the ministry one of three held by one man. Does that show the government appreciates the gravity of constant blackout in Nigeria? For over fifty years (since January 1966), Nigeria attached all seriousness to the power shortage problem, such that it was always ranked a top issue handled every time by a powerful minister or federal commissioner. Despite that seriousness of purpose by all past civilian and military governments, President Muhammadu Buhari came this time and rendered the power problem a third, next to poor roads and housing needs, all to be handled by a single mega minister of works, power and housing. No reason was offered except, perhaps, that let there be light.
Fasola was generally acknowledged as Lagos state governor. That should not have been any justificationn for alloting three key ministries to one man. In particular, over the years, the power portfolio proved virtually insoluble for all the holders even when they were assisted by ministers of state. Expectedly, the ministry could, therefore, only prove intractable when added to two for one minister.
Latent problems raised by that decision have accordingly refused to disappear. The first is that government got it wrong that inadquate power problem in Nigeria is necessarily caused by the competence or incompetence of the minister(s) concerned in the past. Instead, rigidity of Nigerian constituition conferring monopoly of power generation on Federal Government is against smooth administration of the country and does not obtain in any federal constituition anywhere in the world. Second, Nigeria is too vast a country to depend on a single power generation authority. Third, virtually since independence in 1960, there had always been unnecessary ego about power wielded at the federal level instead of national interest. Continued monopoly of power generation by the Federal Government provides an unconscious alliance with the generators importers mafia to stultify any expected improvement in power supply.
Not long ago, after much vacillation on prospects of devaluation of the naira, the Federal Government eventually yielded ground and allowed the Central Bank to make the exchange rate more flexible. Equally, the Federal Government should be more flexible on its exclusive power of electric generation to make such power concurrent for any willing/capable state to generate electricity. Such monumental concession will not deprive the Federal Government the power of generation. The Federal Government already shares similar powers concurrently with existing thirty six states in all matters on education, health, water resources, agriculture, roads, etc.
Federal Government would lose nothing, as it will continue generating power but the latitude for states to concurrently but separately participate in power generation will be there without being subjected to political bias. For some unknown reasons, former President Obasanjo misused federal might to frustrate Bola Tinubu in Lagos from establishing independent power project in Lagos. One good memory of ex-President Yar’Adua was that, on succeeding Obasanjo, he (Yar’Adua) conceded independent power plant for Tinubu and will be so remembered in the history of improved power supply in Lagos State. And in line with the competitive spirit among the four regions in the First Republic, the precedent set in Lagos State under Tinubu for power generation instigated some other states to join private power generation. Among them are Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and, perhaps, Niger. Federal Government did not thereby lose anything, especially its authority on national security, with which, anyway, power generation is not connected.
At least, power supply improved in the above-mentioned states because of power generated by their respective governments. Without such by states, what would the power situation have been in Nigeria today? What is more, none of the states recovered a kobo from the Federal Government for their efforts. What would be the situation with poorer states? It is a question of priority of each state. In self-development, the poverty or priority of one state must not hold down the development of another. There is nothing special about states, which may be unable to finance power generation. Equally, there are states unable to finance free education or pay teachers’ salaries or even entire monthly salaries of civil servants.
If granted the concurrent power to generate electricity and each of the thirty -six states is able to generate five hundred kilowats, by 2019, Nigeria will be aglow with, at least, eighteen thousand kilowats, instead of the ten thousand planned by the Federal Government. It is also noticeable that only Federal Government’s efforts at improved power supply are sabotaged. The states with independent power projects jealously guard their assets.
Power supply/generation is at the worst, on the concurrent list of federal constitutions all over the world because it connotes the essence of federalism, which is to meet the immediate needs of the locals. Let there be light.
Last line: Why are critics just moaning about the removal of Ibe Kachikwu, as Managing Director of NNPC? The sudden and unexplained removal was first announced on the nightly Channels News at 10 almost four months ago.