Govt In Power Without Power

By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN

Statutory Obligation:

“The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary
purpose of government.”

– Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, as amended.

Political Promise:

“INFRASTRUCTURE: APC WILL:

Generate, transmit and distribute from current 5,000 – 6,000 MW
to at least 20,000 MV of electricity within four years and
increasing to 50,000 MW with a view of achieving 24/7 uninterrupted
power supply within ten years, whilst simultaneously ensuring
development of sustainable/renewable energy.”

– Manifesto of the All Progressive Congress (APC), submitted to
the people of Nigeria in the wake of the 2015 general
elections.

Power generation is the main issue in regard to the
socio-economic development of any nation. In Nigeria however,
successive governments have deployed it for political gains,
knowing the importance that Nigerians attach to it. For instance, I
have never experienced electricity supply in my home town since I
was born, as we are not connected to the national grid at all.
Indeed, the entire Ondo South Senatorial District was disconnected
from the grid about twelve years ago even though attempts are
underway to reconnect. Several towns and villages are like my home
town, locked out of any form of development at all, yet we are
classified as oil producing. Last week, the national grid collapsed
for the umpteenth time. I placed an order for the replacement of a
generator and got an invoice of about N5m, just for a 30-KVA
version. To change the inverter batteries would also cost a
fortune. This is the sordid tale of most Nigerians.

The impression that our leaders in power have conveyed to us is
that it is practically impossible to have stable and permanent
power supply; that we don’t have the resources to build the needed
energy plants that will meet the needs of all Nigerians; that we
must accept generators as second nature, if we must function and
survive, as a people. Churches, Mosques, banks, schools, small
businesses, factories, government ministries and departments,
police stations, the courts and even PHCN itself, all depend on
generators. Indeed, a story was once told that a President was set
to commission a newly built power plant and a generator had to be
hired to power the commissioning ceremony. It is that bad.

Electricity is listed in the Exclusive Legislative List of the
Constitution, the implication of which is that only the federal
government can deal with issues related to power, although it has
since been discovered that off-grid developments are not covered by
this exclusive design. Over the years, it has been the sole
business of the federal government, to legislate on, regulate and
provide electricity, with the debilitating effect of poor
management, bureaucratic bottlenecks, corruption, incompetence and
sheer greed, all holding that powerful sector down. We have been
told several tales of billions of dollars pumped into the power
sector, with little or no results, making Nigerians to conclude
that there must be some demons and principalities, holding the
power sector by the jugular. And it is one out of the many nuts
that this administration has not been able to crack.

The average experience of those depending upon public power
supply is that of total frustration, resulting from absence of any
supply at all, irregular supply, low voltage, high voltage, load
shedding, constant blackouts, extortion by members of staff of the
companies involved and naked corruption. This has in turn led many
to believe that there is some sort of collusion between the
regulators, transmitters and the distributors of power, with
generator importers and marketers, with diesel marketers and
suppliers, with candle manufacturing companies and the importers of
rechargeable solutions generally, to milk us dry.

Having cornered all exclusive rights over the power sector, the
expectation was that the federal government would do all in its
power to satisfy the demands of the citizens in respect of power
consumption. All over the land, power cables and conductors line
the space, some disjointed, some expired, some others so very weak
that they cannot even transmit the available power. In some tragic
cases, these exposed cables have fallen upon innocent passersby,
leading to instant electrocution.

To get electricity to the consumer, there has to be a
transformer, to which power will be transmitted and thereafter
distributed to individual consumers. These transformers are in most
cases archaic, dysfunctional and unable to bear the load of the
electricity consumers. So, what happens in most cases is that the
fuses plugged to these transformers get blown up due to excess
load, whilst some get stolen outrightly, leading to blackout. In
some other cases when the fuses don’t work optimally, there is then
the problem of low or high voltage, which impacts upon and damage
valuables, at times leading to fire incidents resulting in several
deaths. The law regulating the power sector grants absolute
immunity to the players.

To survive these frustrations, you have to develop an
alternative means of power supply on your own, the commonest of
which is the generator. The generator has to be powered through
fuel or diesel and it has to be maintained constantly, to serve
you. The generator comes with its own health hazards, such as noise
pollution, dangerous fumes, which has led to the death of several
persons. The sum total of the Nigerian experience then is that the
generator has become the main source of power supply, whilst public
supply is more of the standby option. The generator is all over the
country, in small units of “I better pass my neighbor”or the bigger
diesel units. You need a huge financial capacity to maintain the
generators. Nigeria being a tropical region with our very hot
temperature, you will most probably need an air conditioner to
survive in our climate, which takes a fortune to sustain through
the generator.

The absence of basic infrastructure fuels corruption and is a
disincentive for selfless service, as our leaders in office, having
tasted the allure of stable power supply through generators funded
with the commonwealth, would want to perpetuate their lives of
luxury when out of office, and so they use this as an excuse to dip
into the public treasury to amass enough resources to help them
secure and sustain basic infrastructure when out of office, all of
which are out of the reach of the common man. Stable power supply
is critical to life and existence, it is vital to economic growth
and development and it is the foundation upon which all other
development initiatives can blossom. We just cannot survive without
power.

It was this terrible scenario that the APC promised to change
when it was canvassing for votes in 2015, but now, six years in
office, all we get is one story after another, leading to the usual
blame game of failure of past regimes. From the manifesto of the
APC, the federal government was to generate at least 5,000 MW of
electricity yearly, with equal capacity to transmit and distribute
it. Whilst commissioning traffic lights in Lekki Phase 1 in Lagos
on 12thNovember, 2014, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, as Governor of
Lagos State then, had asserted that any serious government will fix
the power problem in six months. In clearly a matter of fate,
Fashola was subsequently appointed minister in charge of power,
after the 2015 elections. He could not fix it in four years. He had
power but could not deliver power.

Not long ago, Egypt, an African country not as endowed as
Nigeria, commissioned Siemens in 2016, to build a power plant that
could generate 14.4 gigawatts of electricity and this was completed
and commissioned in July 2018. The cost was a paltry $7.2b, less
than half the money purportedly spent on electricity in Nigeria for
eight years. We were later informed that Nigeria had engaged the
same Siemens to transform the power sector but nothing has
changed.

From all the foregoing therefore, I have reason now to believe
that our leaders use epileptic power supply as an instrument of
oppression, to frustrate Nigerians, to halt their development
initiatives, to collapse their industries and investments, to the
extent that they would have no other alternative than to surrender
to the programmes and policies of the ruling government, however
wicked and obnoxious they may be and thereby weaken the base of any
possible opposition, invariably leading to dictatorship,
totalitarianism and despotism.

Part of the solution to the power problems is to decongest the
exclusive list of the Constitution and allow States, Local
Governments, corporate entities and other players to intervene in
the power sector chain. This is part of the restructuring that
Nigerians yearn for and it is certainly not rocket science at all.
Government should divest itself from active involvement in the
power sector beyond regulation. This should be the major focus of
this administration, in the light of the manifold benefits accruing
from stable power supply. Beyond this however, consumers should
embrace the reality of the economic implications of stable power.
We cannot do the same thing and expect different results. The
amount we all spend on diesel or fuel far outweighs the tariff
increase that we are so scared of. In some estates in Lagos for
instance, it has been the case of willing buyer willing supplier,
by which arrangement some homes and offices do enjoy about 22 hours
supply on a daily basis. So, we need to find some balance between a
stable power supply and a realistic tariff regime.

In addition to this is the need for the power distribution
companies to brace up for some revolutionary methods, such as
massive investment in infrastructure, especially transformers.
There has to be a change somehow, which translates such investment
into substantial improvement in the power distribution chain. All
that the average Nigerian wants is stable and efficient power
supply. If Nigeria is supplying power to Niger Republic, then there
can be no excuse whatsoever for failure at home, other than the
fact that it may be a conspiracy against the masses of our people.
The Buhari administration must crack this seemingly hard nut,
urgently.

The campaign now for all Nigerians should be that of Power for
Power. If you cannot provide POWER (electricity) to better our
lives and develop ourselves, then you are not entitled to POWER
(governance) to better your pockets. It is as simple as that. We
have shown enough patience waiting for the promise of 2015. We are
now tired of excuses and want value for our votes.

Life without Christ is Crisis

By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN

Statutory Obligation:

“The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary
purpose of government.”

– Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, as amended.

Political Promise:

“INFRASTRUCTURE: APC WILL:

Generate, transmit and distribute from current 5,000 – 6,000 MW
to at least 20,000 MV of electricity within four years and
increasing to 50,000 MW with a view of achieving 24/7 uninterrupted
power supply within ten years, whilst simultaneously ensuring
development of sustainable/renewable energy.”

– Manifesto of the All Progressive Congress (APC), submitted to
the people of Nigeria in the wake of the 2015 general
elections.

Power generation is the main issue in regard to the
socio-economic development of any nation. In Nigeria however,
successive governments have deployed it for political gains,
knowing the importance that Nigerians attach to it. For instance, I
have never experienced electricity supply in my home town since I
was born, as we are not connected to the national grid at all.
Indeed, the entire Ondo South Senatorial District was disconnected
from the grid about twelve years ago even though attempts are
underway to reconnect. Several towns and villages are like my home
town, locked out of any form of development at all, yet we are
classified as oil producing. Last week, the national grid collapsed
for the umpteenth time. I placed an order for the replacement of a
generator and got an invoice of about N5m, just for a 30-KVA
version. To change the inverter batteries would also cost a
fortune. This is the sordid tale of most Nigerians.

The impression that our leaders in power have conveyed to us is
that it is practically impossible to have stable and permanent
power supply; that we don’t have the resources to build the needed
energy plants that will meet the needs of all Nigerians; that we
must accept generators as second nature, if we must function and
survive, as a people. Churches, Mosques, banks, schools, small
businesses, factories, government ministries and departments,
police stations, the courts and even PHCN itself, all depend on
generators. Indeed, a story was once told that a President was set
to commission a newly built power plant and a generator had to be
hired to power the commissioning ceremony. It is that bad.

Electricity is listed in the Exclusive Legislative List of the
Constitution, the implication of which is that only the federal
government can deal with issues related to power, although it has
since been discovered that off-grid developments are not covered by
this exclusive design. Over the years, it has been the sole
business of the federal government, to legislate on, regulate and
provide electricity, with the debilitating effect of poor
management, bureaucratic bottlenecks, corruption, incompetence and
sheer greed, all holding that powerful sector down. We have been
told several tales of billions of dollars pumped into the power
sector, with little or no results, making Nigerians to conclude
that there must be some demons and principalities, holding the
power sector by the jugular. And it is one out of the many nuts
that this administration has not been able to crack.

The average experience of those depending upon public power
supply is that of total frustration, resulting from absence of any
supply at all, irregular supply, low voltage, high voltage, load
shedding, constant blackouts, extortion by members of staff of the
companies involved and naked corruption. This has in turn led many
to believe that there is some sort of collusion between the
regulators, transmitters and the distributors of power, with
generator importers and marketers, with diesel marketers and
suppliers, with candle manufacturing companies and the importers of
rechargeable solutions generally, to milk us dry.

Having cornered all exclusive rights over the power sector, the
expectation was that the federal government would do all in its
power to satisfy the demands of the citizens in respect of power
consumption. All over the land, power cables and conductors line
the space, some disjointed, some expired, some others so very weak
that they cannot even transmit the available power. In some tragic
cases, these exposed cables have fallen upon innocent passersby,
leading to instant electrocution.

To get electricity to the consumer, there has to be a
transformer, to which power will be transmitted and thereafter
distributed to individual consumers. These transformers are in most
cases archaic, dysfunctional and unable to bear the load of the
electricity consumers. So, what happens in most cases is that the
fuses plugged to these transformers get blown up due to excess
load, whilst some get stolen outrightly, leading to blackout. In
some other cases when the fuses don’t work optimally, there is then
the problem of low or high voltage, which impacts upon and damage
valuables, at times leading to fire incidents resulting in several
deaths. The law regulating the power sector grants absolute
immunity to the players.

To survive these frustrations, you have to develop an
alternative means of power supply on your own, the commonest of
which is the generator. The generator has to be powered through
fuel or diesel and it has to be maintained constantly, to serve
you. The generator comes with its own health hazards, such as noise
pollution, dangerous fumes, which has led to the death of several
persons. The sum total of the Nigerian experience then is that the
generator has become the main source of power supply, whilst public
supply is more of the standby option. The generator is all over the
country, in small units of “I better pass my neighbor”or the bigger
diesel units. You need a huge financial capacity to maintain the
generators. Nigeria being a tropical region with our very hot
temperature, you will most probably need an air conditioner to
survive in our climate, which takes a fortune to sustain through
the generator.

The absence of basic infrastructure fuels corruption and is a
disincentive for selfless service, as our leaders in office, having
tasted the allure of stable power supply through generators funded
with the commonwealth, would want to perpetuate their lives of
luxury when out of office, and so they use this as an excuse to dip
into the public treasury to amass enough resources to help them
secure and sustain basic infrastructure when out of office, all of
which are out of the reach of the common man. Stable power supply
is critical to life and existence, it is vital to economic growth
and development and it is the foundation upon which all other
development initiatives can blossom. We just cannot survive without
power.

It was this terrible scenario that the APC promised to change
when it was canvassing for votes in 2015, but now, six years in
office, all we get is one story after another, leading to the usual
blame game of failure of past regimes. From the manifesto of the
APC, the federal government was to generate at least 5,000 MW of
electricity yearly, with equal capacity to transmit and distribute
it. Whilst commissioning traffic lights in Lekki Phase 1 in Lagos
on 12thNovember, 2014, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, as Governor of
Lagos State then, had asserted that any serious government will fix
the power problem in six months. In clearly a matter of fate,
Fashola was subsequently appointed minister in charge of power,
after the 2015 elections. He could not fix it in four years. He had
power but could not deliver power.

Not long ago, Egypt, an African country not as endowed as
Nigeria, commissioned Siemens in 2016, to build a power plant that
could generate 14.4 gigawatts of electricity and this was completed
and commissioned in July 2018. The cost was a paltry $7.2b, less
than half the money purportedly spent on electricity in Nigeria for
eight years. We were later informed that Nigeria had engaged the
same Siemens to transform the power sector but nothing has
changed.

From all the foregoing therefore, I have reason now to believe
that our leaders use epileptic power supply as an instrument of
oppression, to frustrate Nigerians, to halt their development
initiatives, to collapse their industries and investments, to the
extent that they would have no other alternative than to surrender
to the programmes and policies of the ruling government, however
wicked and obnoxious they may be and thereby weaken the base of any
possible opposition, invariably leading to dictatorship,
totalitarianism and despotism.

Part of the solution to the power problems is to decongest the
exclusive list of the Constitution and allow States, Local
Governments, corporate entities and other players to intervene in
the power sector chain. This is part of the restructuring that
Nigerians yearn for and it is certainly not rocket science at all.
Government should divest itself from active involvement in the
power sector beyond regulation. This should be the major focus of
this administration, in the light of the manifold benefits accruing
from stable power supply. Beyond this however, consumers should
embrace the reality of the economic implications of stable power.
We cannot do the same thing and expect different results. The
amount we all spend on diesel or fuel far outweighs the tariff
increase that we are so scared of. In some estates in Lagos for
instance, it has been the case of willing buyer willing supplier,
by which arrangement some homes and offices do enjoy about 22 hours
supply on a daily basis. So, we need to find some balance between a
stable power supply and a realistic tariff regime.

In addition to this is the need for the power distribution
companies to brace up for some revolutionary methods, such as
massive investment in infrastructure, especially transformers.
There has to be a change somehow, which translates such investment
into substantial improvement in the power distribution chain. All
that the average Nigerian wants is stable and efficient power
supply. If Nigeria is supplying power to Niger Republic, then there
can be no excuse whatsoever for failure at home, other than the
fact that it may be a conspiracy against the masses of our people.
The Buhari administration must crack this seemingly hard nut,
urgently.

The campaign now for all Nigerians should be that of Power for
Power. If you cannot provide POWER (electricity) to better our
lives and develop ourselves, then you are not entitled to POWER
(governance) to better your pockets. It is as simple as that. We
have shown enough patience waiting for the promise of 2015. We are
now tired of excuses and want value for our votes.

Life without Christ is Crisis