Most Nigerians think that all the talk about achieving stable power supply in the country in the near future is illusory. Who can blame them? We have lived so long in the country without ever experiencing what it is like to have adequate electricity, medical care or water supply from public source. So, to think that we are at the end of the tunnel just because government says it intends to do something about the situation would be overly optimistic.

Many individual families have become local governments in their own right, providing basic social amenities for themselves in the place of government. Private water boreholes, with giant overhead water tanks, are a common feature on our landscape; virtually every family has its own electricity generating source and it has become a cliché to say all industrialists in the country and most artisans depend on their own power sources to run their businesses.

Thousands of GSM base stations that dot the country are similarly powered from the generating sets purchased by the operators of the various communication networks. The resources, which  are pumped into the provision of these power sources, make services rendered by the commercial enterprises costlier. In the end, the inability of government to ensure adequate power supply piles miseries on the greater part of the population.

President Goodluck Jonathan is making positive noises about this. It is not as if this is the first time nice plans have been laid out on how to tackle the problem. It was high on the agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who came in with the idea of National Independent Power Projects (NIPP). His predecessor, late President Umaru Yar ‘Adua made power supply a key component of his 7-Point Agenda to demonstrate their administrations’ commitment to resolving the nagging question.

Nonetheless, not much progress has been recorded. The level which President Jonathan appears to be taking the matter is however a cause for renewed hope.

In his maiden live media chat this week, he dwelt on the matter extensively and identified weak links in the chain which he asserted must be fixed in order to get the minimum required from the nation’s electricity generating, transmission and distribution system.

He said, “the power issue is like a chain which has so many weak links. It is just to fix those weak links to give us the minimum that we need. If we fix all the weak links now, we should be able to get 10, 000mw. That was why there was this projection that we would be able to get 6,000mw by December. But things are not always equal.”

He was also courageous enough to note that the problem goes way back to several administrations which simply turned their backs against power infrastructure development until the advent of President Obasanjo. However, at the height of President Obasanjo’s revival effort, a lot of things were misplaced which just seemed to have compounded the situation rather than improved it. This explains why even though so much money was pumped into the sector, very little came out of it in terms of visible results.

President Jonathan is assuring that enough homework has now been done and the errors of the past are poised to be avoided. The idea is that the present power reforms would be pursued vigorously and eventually, the private sector has to be in the driving seat of the power sector in the country.  “Our plan for Nigeria to have stable power supply is to complete the reform in the power sector. The idea is that if in other countries around us, the private sector is playing a big role, why not Nigeria?” he wondered.

Apart from the Presidential Action Committee (PAC) on Power, a taskforce also exists to work out strategies on generation, transmission and distribution of power and the taskforce is directly overseen by the president. Besides, he has approved the appointment of former Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Barth Nnaji, as his Special Adviser on Power.

Though all this will suggest that there is, indeed, some movement towards addressing the intractable problem of power, Nigerians are still keeping their fingers crossed, waiting to see how things work out before passing a judgment on government’s resolve to end this unbridled source of agony for the people.

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WE HAVE OTHER OPTIONS
written by OLAMIDE OLASUPO, July 01, 2010

All ways like to challenge the present situation in Nigeria gives me job so as people will be able to gain better knowledge and understanding of our free gift of God which is wasting away by nonchalant attitude and lack of Information
I partially agree to some face about the increase in services cost of private investor in the country as lack of provision from government in terms of power supply, but also they only see Nigeria as a loop hole where price can be set by themselves or decide to do as they like, they have budget and they know what they have made in profit so far from Nigeria economy ,is electricity supply through electric generator the only means of electricity supply? No , what of wind mill , what of Solar energy they know of all this but their greed and profit focuses is what any profit organisation will only think about , if we compare the payback return cost on electricity through government power supply , electrical generator that uses diesel or petrol and free gift supply of solar we will realise the best is to invest on solar energy and we all know Nigeria is blessed with sun from 31 December of every year to the following 31 December of the followed year , we just need to weight the opportunities around us and payback period on investment before we embark on any project, for now they can still work on the governmental power supply and foreign electricity supply investor as stated by Mr President but the issuer of developing home made solar system device should not be left out , in most country they have free services in some aspect for the benefit of their people, like Dubai , telecommunication is relatively free for all individuals , in UK medical is relatively free for their citizen , we are blessed with sun in Nigeria , cant we utilize it and make electricity free in the near future for Nigerians? Cant this be don? Yes it can depends on the perspective views of you and I . Thanks

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