My Naija News - RE: POWER EMERGENCY: GOVERNORS BACK YAR’ADUA

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RE: POWER EMERGENCY: GOVERNORS BACK YAR’ADUA

Written by Zik Gbemre

Wednesday, 02 July 2008

When the present administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, sometime in 2007 hinted Nigerians that he was going to declare “a state of emergency” on the power sector, many people were given a sense of hope, that at long last, something would be done to change the pathetic power sector to good. But as the months rolled by, Nigerians began losing that sense of hope, especially with the “slow-paced” system of government headed by President Yar’Adua. First, the President declared that he was wary to invest in the power sector, considering the fact that about $16 billion was spent on it by the last administration of Olusegun Obasanjo. And then later, a committee was mandated by the President to map out a plan that would provide at least 6,000 MegaWatts (MW) by 2009. And now, plans are on the way to implement the much awaited emergency measures in the power sector, expected to be declared in the month of July.
To this end, the National Council of State (NCS), recently endorsed President Umar Yar’Adua’s proposal to fund the power sector emergency from the excess crude account, and gave him the green light to execute the proposal with 628.29 billion ($5.37 billion) from the said account. Another 569.79 billion ($4.87 billion) is to be shared by the three tiers of government towards this end.

According to Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, after the NCS meeting in Abuja, he said that an 18-man committee was set-up by the council to implement the emergency measures expected to be declared in the power sector in July. And the Minister of State for Power, made a presentation on what is required in the rehabilitation of the existing plants, rehabilitation of the transmission and the rehabilitation of the distribution network and also, the completion of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP). In his words, “it is the view of the Ministry that with this, it is possible to get to 6,000MW by the end of 2009 and by 2011, with the expansion of the grid and Mambila and Zungeru, we should be able to get to 10,000MW”.

It was the deliberations that followed after the President’s proposal that brought about the support to finance the short-term power target from the excess crude funds. The NCS also took a decision on the composition of an “implementation committee” to avoid the mistakes of the past government.

But in another twist related to this system of funding the emergency in the power sector, a front-page comment by Vanguard Newspaper for June 20, 2008, drew the attention of the public on what it described as “another illegality”, referring to the said proposal to fund the power sector. The report expressed that, “President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s proposed power emergency plan falls fully into the sort of unconstitutionality that Olusegun Obasanjo promoted in his eight-year presidency”; describing the President’s agreement with the 36 state governors to withdraw $5.37 billion from the excess crude oil account fund, as an illegality created by Obasanjo to warehouse funds, in excess of the budget benchmark for the sale of crude oil. The argument is hinged on the fact that, the said funds are outside the control of the National Assembly, this makes it illegal and prone to abuses. And the various sectors of the 1999 constitution were extensive on how Federal revenues are to be handled.

According to Section 80 (1), “all revenues or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other money payable under this constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for specific purpose), shall be paid into and form one consolidated Revenue fund of the Federation”. Section 162 (3) states: “Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation account shall be distributed among the federal and state governments and local government councils in each state on the terms and in such manner that may be prescribed by the National Assembly”.

For the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), it has limited powers to appropriate Federal Funds because its legal powers are in the confines of the revenue sharing formula. RMAFC’s proposal that, the surplus revenue from crude oil sales should be invested in infrastructure is good, but it is not legal, and we are in total support of this stance. Agreed that Nigerians want improved electricity supply and more infrastructural developments. However, the present administration should go about it legally. Unconstitutional application of the Federation account to achieve this purpose is illegal, negatively affects our democracy and is obstructions to compliance with the law.

There are various legal options for the government to go about its intentions, like the ones suggested in the report. That, the President should have the entire money left in the excess crude oil account to be shared among the various tiers of government. And these tiers of government, relying on agreements, will appropriate the money through their legislative Houses as their stake in the national power programme. In other words, this will be in a form of lending to the Federal government.

And if this process is too cumbersome, then the President can present a bill to the National Assembly for permission to borrow $5 billion for electricity. It will definitely get accelerated passage and the President can execute his programme legally. And it is expedient that the National Assembly should stop this illegality and save the nation the stress of future “probes” that might come up to unearth how Yar’Adua abused sections 80 and 81 of the Nigerian constitution. This was what the legislative members could not do during the Obasanjo years, which is now responsible for the present waste of public funds in probes that can only make so much noise without biting anybody.

The bottom line is that the government of Nigeria seriously needs to come out sincerely and address the emergency in the power sector. All these backyard arrangement and illegality will only create room for further problems in the future. It is a shame that Nigeria, despite our wealth and resourcefulness in all dimensions, is still battling with energy crises that has crippled and perpetually left the power sector under developed. The current setting raises serious doubts about any deep thinking behind the power emergency, which has been in the works for more than 18 months now and still running.

Imagine a country like South Africa that recently came under severe criticism for what is perceived as a worsening energy situation in that country has already put in measures to address the incessant power shortage being experienced by its citizens. The South African Authorities have adopted to bring back into operation, power stations that were disengaged in the 1980s, when there was “energy surplus” in the country, building more power stations to bring the power generating capacity of the country to as high as 80,000 to 100,000MW by the year 2025. This ambitious project that includes the building of nuclear power stations is estimated to gulp about $30 billion in nearly two decades. And currently, the country is enjoying nothing less than 35 Gigawatts (GW), which is almost ten times more than what we have in Nigeria. That is South Africa for you.

But in Nigeria, the issue of energy surplus can only be a dream never to come true, and the long suffering citizens of the country, most of whom have lived all their lives without half the beautiful experience of a regular and efficient power system like their South African friends, were recently treated to a show of malignant inefficient leadership and unpatriotic disposition to national object, by an investigation into the last eight years use of energy funds.

While President Yar’Adua promised a 6,000MW power generation by 2009, the country’s total installed capacity output has not been any better than 3,200MW. And between 2007 and this year, this has hovered around 1,200 and 1,800MW due to combined elements like shortfalls in gas supply, equipment failure/vandalisation and misappropriation of public funds meant for the sector. And for a country of over 140 million people, these figures are in no way near the remotest need of the citizens. And to worsen the situation, those who are well informed on energy matters believe that the infrastructure available in the country cannot support the President’s ambition because existing infrastructure has since become obsolete with some of it well above the approved 30 to 35 years lifespan. Thus, it is fast becoming a mirage that Yar’Adua’s vision may be realizable over 12 months after coming into office. However, we strongly believe that if the NIPP project is judiciously implemented and funded legally, it will definitely make things better by the end of 2009.

Moreso, it is one thing to generate enough electricity/power, and it is another thing to transmit and distribute it accordingly to the final consumers. You would agree with us that the country’s Power Distribution network is seriously suffering from ‘old age’/overuse, substandard materials and lack of maintenance. A look around most streets in the country, Power Holdings Company of Nigeria’s (PHCN’s) disfigured electric pole wires and the wires themselves, hanging upside down and entangled like spider webs all over the sky.

And sometimes, because of the dereliction of duty landlords and residents buy their own cables, poles and some end up using obsolete and substandard materials. This has created differences in fluctuation in power supply. And when substandard materials are used in the lower voltage network, it leads to high losses of power, due to low rate of response and also increases the cost of maintenance and operation of the network. A typical example is the use of thick copper conductor as a fuse in most feeder pillars, reduction of the cross-sectional area of Aluminium Conductor Steel Reinforced (ACRS), overhead line conductors and multiple joints on the conductors, mostly in large centres of the network. The effect of the above reduces the quality of power supplied by the utility and overloads the system; thus, resulting in incessant load shedding.

Nigerians have been made to witness Transformers getting blown up every now and again across the country, because they are carrying loads too heavy for their capacity. Waiting for PHCN to replace a transformer can be a frustrating experience, and to speed up things, sometimes consumers have to contribute money to upgrade a transformer or buy a new one. Even then, you cannot be sure of having constant electricity supply for diverse reasons.

The fact is that, our power service is not safe. Disastrous fires claiming lives and property have been caused by power surges when electricity is restored or when the voltage is abnormally high. We have even had cases of a system collapse on the National Grid Network, usually caused as a result of a complete ceasure of energy flow (on the various components of the power utility supply system); or abnormally tripping of transformer lines, causing a system surge with attendant power swings.

Though the transmission and distribution networks are inclusive in the rehabilitation process envisaged by the Yar’Adua power emergency (project) committee, we strongly believe that this area deserves equal attention as much as the Generation network. And in the area of ‘implementation’, the power sector emergency implementation committee, that is chaired by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and consists of nine Governors, five Ministers, one representative each from the organized labour, the media and the oil sector, should ensure that whatever that is mapped out on papers, as regards achieving the set target of 6,000MW by 2009, should be translated on ground to bear on the citizens of this country; and most importantly, to avoid the mistakes of the past administration of Obasanjo.

In as much as it is important to build new power stations, it is also pertinent to explore the option of revitalizing the existing power stations with a comprehensive life extension programme in mind. Stakeholders in the Power and Energy sector should sit at a round table and deliberate on the way forward. The consumer’s consultative forum should be given more attention for PHCN to become an income yielding enterprise that provides the required services. This we urge.

Zik Gbemre is National Coordinator Niger-Delta Peace Coalition

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