Solving Nigeria’s power problem

It's no longer news in Nigeria that we have enormous power challenges. It is also not a secret that efforts to solve our power challenges in the past, have not only failed to yield fruits but have also gulped scarce national resources. The identified problems in the power sector include sabotage, loss of energy during transmission due to obsolete equipment, and long transmission distances. There is also the issue of building power plants far from the source of gas, and poor maintenance culture.

The Egbin power plant in Lagos is gas powered; it is located hundreds of kilometers from the source of the gas which it uses. The pipes that convey gas to it have burst severally, and whenever this happens, it spells darkness on the southwest almost totally. Having noted this, the government went ahead to construct a gas powered plant in Papalanto, and other parts of Ogun State.

I wonder if our leaders and their advisers ever learn from past mistakes. Papalanto and Omotosho power plants are bound to face the problems Egbin faces, and even more. Gas power plants should be situated close to original sources of gas. The Afam IV power plant is in order, because it is located in the south–south which is close to the original sources of gas.

In the south west, there are more than a hundred potential sites for high capacity hydro electric power plants. I think water should be used to power the south west states because it is a sustainable resource peculiar to the region, which is blessed with many all season high volume rivers. Senator Imoke justified Obasanjo's adminis-tration’s preference for gas powered power plants above hydro power plants, by comparing the completion time of both which is just a year difference.

According to Senator Imoke, while it takes two years to complete a gas powered power plant, it takes three years to complete a hydro power plant. In my view he is not justified; as at now a number of the gas powered plants lie uncompleted and abandoned, while some have not even started. The extra year it would cost to build a hydro plant cannot be compared to what Nigeria would suffer when gas supply logistics go wrong, or what Nigerians have suffered for decades. Another issue is why the power plants were paid for by the Federal Government.What happened to Obasanjo’s love for BOT (Build Operate Transfer)? This is a very sensible financing option.

Where are the many foreign investors government brought into Nigeria to heal the power sector? Didn't they bring their money along? The Federal Government should work with states, and energy investors to build small/medium scale dams that would serve states, local governments, geo political sub regions (three /two neighbouring states) which can be run with resources peculiar to their locations as against the large power plants which would serve ten states or five.

If the model above is followed, it will not give rise to a situation that when Egbin coughs, the whole south west region is in darkness, but if Egbin serves Lagos, Eleyele and Asejire hydro plants serve Osun and Oyo States, Kanji serves Niger State and its neighbours, then the issue of regional black-out due to gas shortage or vandalisation of transmission line, and energy losses through long transmission lines will be history.

I hope President Yar’ Adua's new power proposal is a decentralised one. I hope he will take a cue from the Bonny Utility Company (BUC), which supplies Bonny through a gas fired power plant, because all the gas is locally available in Bonny, and not piped from a far location.

Olusiji Sanya,
CEO, Erado Nigeria.

PHCN vs Onipetesi Estate, Lagos

I write to express the agony being faced by the people of Onipetesi Estate, Mangoro, Ikeja over power supply in the last few years. At first, most residents thought that it was a general problem as every community had to cope with the rot in the power sector. However, with the passage of time, it became clear that NEPA (and now PHCN) officials were out for another game.

Stories made the rounds that some top PHCN officials demanded for a monthly sleazy sum from the mostly middle class residents of Onipetesi Estate and the adjoining neighbour-hoods so as to 'improve' power supply to the area. Being educated, most residents reportedly turned down this request.

This has been the greatest undoing of the community as PHCN deliberately withholds power supply to the community even when other areas of Lagos have power supply. At a time, new poles were erected along Fajebe Street and everyone thought that PHCN had decided to address the problem. It was later discovered that that was done to satisfy just one customer who had decided to cooperate with the corrupt officials.

Despite the fact that power is rationed, which leaves some streets without light every other day, nothing is done to enable residents enjoy a few hours of good supply. Each time power is restored, it is switched off a few minutes thereafter for what a former PHCN staff called diversion to “serious” customers who are wise enough to grease the palms of PHCN officials every month.

For over a week now, the best that PHCN does is less than 10 minutes of light daily. This, however, does not stop the crazy bill that estimates that light has been supplied regularly! Is it a crime not to be ready to “settle” some itchy fingers in PHCN after paying the crazy bills? We call on PHCN to rectify this by forgiving the recalcitrant residents of Onipetesi Estate.

Boye-Smith Adewale,
Dept of English,
Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife.