TheNiche recently played host to Power Minister, Chinedu Nebo, at its corporate headquarters in Lagos. During his interaction with the board of editors, he gave a scorecard of the electricity sector under his watch. VICTOR EBIMOMI, who was at the event, brings these excerpts.
Why we brought message to Lagos
The good work we have been doing is very often poorly reported and poorly represented. So, we want to have a boost from your work and I really want to thank you all for the opportunity to come and share this moment with you.
Everybody has been bitten by this election bug, and some people are not being realistic about the way they look at things, perceive things, report things, and analyse things. I want to just take a few minutes to give you a little bit of information on where we are today and where we came from.
Power supply
It is clear that when President Goodluck Jonathan came on board we were barely delivering 2,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity. In fact, actual daily average did not reach 2,500mw, but when in good condition we could say 2,800mw.
Today, we have reached 4,500mw in one administration and I think it is a milestone by any standard. Electricity is not something you just produce or do overnight, it takes time for any of the projects to mature. So, we’ve come a long way.
On a daily average basis, because of all kinds of down time, load shedding, and so on, we have exceeded 3,500mw, which is an excess 1,000mw over what Mr. president inherited.
We have been picking up approximately 4,500mw and we have capacity to do even more than that if gas is available. And the government is working very hard to make sure gas is available.
Revitalised NIPP
Also, I want to remind you that the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) President Jonathan inherited was bad. It was when he became Vice President that he started wooing the states, encouraging them to come on board and ensure the NIPP is resuscitated.
The 10 plants will produce approximately 4,500mw. Actually, more than 4,500mw will be added to the grid upon completion.
So, it was when Jonathan became President that the whole process started. Two of the power plants have been commissioned and there are others that should be commissioned before the end of this year, by God’s grace.
Gas master plan
It is also the same President Jonathan who began to think about what was not even thought of when the NIPP project was put in place. It’s like going to the market and buying all your consumables, come back home and there is no firewood, no cooking pot or anywhere to cook the food.
When these projects were conceived there was no concomitant deployment or development of gas infrastructure. All of them have gas fire devices to power turbines, but there was no gas, no mention of gas, and no planning for gas.
It was the president who worked with the gas master plan, and you can comfortably say that essentially all of the NIPP projects now have gas infrastructure.
In past years, there was no mention of even getting those plants connected; so that’s something we are thankful that Mr president has led.
Rural electrification
Many of you also know that former President Olusegun Obasanjo scrapped the rural electrification agency but President Jonathan has kept it alive, and it is booming. He reactivated the rural electrification agency and also funded it to make sure that those in rural communities get electricity.
Infrastructure upgrade
PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) was essentially dying when Obasanjo was President. For 16 years, neither NEPA (National Electricity Power Authority) nor PHCN employed a single engineer.
How do you develop infrastructure, how do you grow in business, how do you grow in system when there is no increase in human capacity? For 16 years engineers were not employed, technologists were not employed, technicians were not employed.
It was President Jonathan who gave us authority and approval to employ over 1,000 engineers, and we’ve done that for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). Since others are now privatised they will do their own, and many of them are actually having engineers at the moment.
So, capacity building wise, the president has done very, very well. All of you are witnesses to the privatisation exercise, in which everything went well, in spite of the initial struggle by Labour.
We were able to convince Labour that this is a good thing Nigeria needs, and today people look at Nigeria’s utility privatisation as the largest in the world. It was done in a very transparent manner, about which again we thank Mr president.
It was the president who also approved and attracted funding to upgrade decaying infrastructure and made sure it was strengthened.
Privatisation is supposed to make the private sector take the bull by the horns with regard to power generation. It is because of privatisation that Ughelli power plant has doubled capacity to generate electricity.
In the next couple of days the president is going to be here in Lagos to commission the sixth turbine of Egbin power plant, the largest power plant in the whole country. For nearly nine years they had one of their turbines blown up and there was nobody to fix it. If it had been under the government nobody would be talking about it but because it is in private hands they were able to go through all due diligence, procure all they needed, and put it back to function. It has been fired and found to be perfectly in order. It will add 220mw.
Egbin is now back to installed capacity, which privatisation made possible. We are very grateful.
Power meters
The government is working on providing one million meters for Nigerians. People say it is not enough, we know, but I think it is still a good gesture from the government.
Funding the structure
It is very critical. I feel so happy that people ask probing and intelligent questions that need to be addressed from a professional standpoint.
The problem we have with financing the GENCOs (generating companies) and DISCOs (distribution companies) is that much of the funding came from local buyers who are very eager to get their money back.
There is no way you can develop the power sector with short term loan. It never works in any part of the world.
That is why the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) working with me and the minister of petroleum resources and the chairman of the NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission) came up with a package to ease the overbearing loan and shortfall in the electricity industry.
We provided over N213 billion because the banks are saying, “We have no money again to lend to GENCOs and DISCOs, look for money elsewhere.” But the banks are being restructured to handle long term loan.
So far, the power sector has fared very well under President Jonathan’s administration. He has done so much for the sector. Things that appeared to have been jinxed, he broke them. The whole matter of privatisation is adjudged globally as a very successful exercise.
Nigeria has the largest global privatisation utility in the whole world. We got it in one fell swoop. It needed a courageous, determined, articulate and visionary president to bring it to conclusion.
When the project was conceived by the previous administration, nobody thought about where the gas was going to come from. It is President Jonathan that is now working round the clock to ensure that gas delivery infrastructure is put in place to make sure that all the turbines are fired and can deliver electricity to the country.
For the first time, the transmission network of electricity in the country is receiving a robust attention and funding from both national and international agencies to ensure that Nigerians get electricity.
Vandalism
One thing that has been a national phenomenon is vandalism. Vandalism is taking a toll on us, especially on gas pipelines.
Any time we hit between 4,500 and 4,600mw, vandals tamper with our facilities. So, I ask myself, isn’t this being orchestrated by God knows who? Could it be that some people do not want Nigeria to enjoy constant power supply? These are issues Nigerians should address.
If you are in the shoes of Mr president, I don’t know how you will feel when you have power plants, you make sure infrastructure is being put in place, and each time you get to a certain point, they vandalise the facilities; and even when you have not got to that point, they keep vandalising. To make sure there is no gas, they steal the oil.
They sometimes go under the sea to burst the gas pipelines. One of the worst acts of vandalism occurred recently when over two dozen places were vandalised at different pipelines in a stretch.
Is that not sabotage! What are they getting from such wicked acts? Since they cannot steal the gas, why are they bursting the pipelines if it is not to score political points!
Gas is the cheapest and cleanest source of power generation, but if people who hate Nigeria, with the selfish aim of scoring political points, will vandalise pipelines, thus robbing themselves and their communities and the entire country of the opportunity to enjoy regular power supply, then we have to find a means of not delivering gas through pipelines.
That is the reason we are adding coal and hydros – large, medium, and small.
Zugeru power project in Niger State was flagged off by Mr president on May 28, 2013 and will generate 700mw when completed. Mambila in Taraba will generate 3,050mw in a few months’ time.
When you look at all these, you will realise that the president has performed marvellously in four years than many presidents put together.
Energy mix
It is difficult to say how many megawatts this administration is targeting. But for the opposition, I have looked at their manifesto and it is a laughing stock. A target of 40,000mw is not possible.
There is nothing much in their manifesto with regard to power and infrastructure. What they said they will do if they eventually come on board, we have not only done but have exceeded it. If they want to prove to Nigerians that they will do more, let them tell us how they intend to do it!
They are talking of energy mix. We are not only talking energy mix, we are already doing energy mix. It’s like a mother who goes to the market to buy foodstuff, comes home and prepares a very delicious meal for you; but a few minutes for her to serve you somebody out there is now promising to go to the market to prepare what is not even up to what your mother has dished on the table for you.
We have not only done what they promise the people, we have far exceeded it, and are on the path of realising far beyond what they say they will do.
We are already doing much more than Nigeria has ever done. We have generated much more than Nigeria has ever generated.
Think of the alternatives we are now developing: coal, more hydros, renewable energies. You don’t go to shops to pick these up. They have to be designed, constructed, procured, brought into the country, installed, and commissioned. We are already there.
Eventually Nigerians will heave a sigh of relief. But it takes time. Somebody who is making a promise and the other who has put a mechanism in place to realise it, who is in a better position to deliver?
I keep telling people that just to deliver what South Africa is delivering presently per capital, we need 160,000mw.
If you ask top turbine manufacturers in the world, they cannot deliver in five years, it is not possible! Nobody can do it! But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step, and we have actually taken so many steps.
We will do what we have promised Nigerians, but Nigerians have to cooperate.