Opinion

Nigeria And The Permanent Partnership With Paucity Of Power

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Bala Ibrahim

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"WDoR3YLw" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Bala Ibrahim<&sol;p><div class&equals;"KFNSNdpq" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>We woke up to a bad news this morning&comma; saying&comma; the residence of a close friend was razed to the ground by fire in Kaduna&period; This is the second time within a short spell&comma; and the same stroke of bad luck had similarly visited another residence of the same person in Katsina&period; God can’t be wrong&comma; and only HE knows why&comma; but the physically assessed cause is attributed to electric inverter malfunction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Nigeria&comma; because of the permanent paucity of power&comma; the use of electric inverters has since become a necessity&comma; particularly with the high cost of diesel&comma; that is making the use of generators almost impossible&period; Those who can afford it&comma; are compelled to install electric inverters&comma; that convert direct current to alternating current for power supply in the house or office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But from the look of recent happenings&comma; this alternative source of energy is coming at a high price&comma; because of the frequent cases of fire&comma; occasioned by the permanent paucity of power&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"3fnPmVoI" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Because the Nigerian power sector is so problematic&comma; on coming to power&comma; PMB made a promise to overhaul the system for the better&period; As a result&comma; billions of dollars were spent on power&comma; and many ministers and technocrats have come and gone&comma; but the result seems the same&colon; permanent partnership with darkness&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Successive stakeholders in the resuscitation exercise have talked about the privatisation of the sector&comma; in a way that would give flexibility to the introduced lexicons like the GENCOS&comma; DISCOS and TCN&comma; but alas&comma; the result seems the same&colon; permanent partnership with darkness&period; And now the frequent visits of fire&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2022&sol;06&sol;22&sol;nigerian-army-major-commits-suicide-military-denies-rumours-that-he-was-under-investigation&sol;">Nigerian Army Major Commits Suicide&comma; Military Denies Rumours That He Was Under Investigation<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The mystery of power supply in Nigeria got to a point where a former Minister of Power&comma; Zainab Kuchi&comma; was once quoted as telling a South African delegation that evil spirits were preventing the country from achieving sustainable electricity supply&period; In her wisdom&comma; Kuchi recommended that all hands must be on deck to collectively exorcise the demons in the sector&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We must resolve to jointly exorcise the evil spirit behind this darkness&comma;” –Kuchi&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But in spite of all the promises made&comma; and the volume of money pumped&comma; Nigeria seems to be moving from bad to worse in power supply&comma; it seems&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I read somewhere&comma; a statement credited to the PDP presidential flag bearer&comma; Alh&period; Atiku Abubakar&comma; viz&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The darkness that has enveloped the nation in the last couple of days with the collapse of the national grid is a metaphor for the collapsing state of our nation&colon; collapsing unity&comma; collapsing security&comma; collapsing economy&comma; collapsing education&comma; collapsing well-being and collapsing value of human life and dignity&period; My expectation is that Nigerians will collapse the ruling APC in kind via the ballot and enthrone a viable pathway for the New Nigeria of our dreams that will be united and stable&comma; prosperous and awash with opportunities&semi; secured and inclusive&period; As One&comma; we can get it done”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I also read some where&comma; some remarks&comma; credited to the General Secretary&comma; Electricity Union of Nigeria&comma; Joe Ajaero&comma; which clearly comes like a direct response to the comments of Atiku&comma; thus&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;17 OUT OF 18 COMPANIES YOU SOLD UNDER PRIVATIZATION IN 1999 ARE YET TO BREAK EVEN&comma; YOUR THREE-POINT AGENDA IS DEAD ON ARRIVAL&period; Today Osogbo Steel Rolling Mill is a glorified warehouse&comma; what has been the performance indices of Generation Companies &lpar;GenCos&rpar; and Distribution Companies &lpar;DisCos&rpar; in the last eight years&quest; 17 out of the 18 enterprises Atiku sold in the power sector&comma; none is yet to break even&period; The Federal government has pumped about N2 trillion as subvention to the privately owned companies in the power sector&comma; yet power generation has nose-dived from 4&comma;000MW to 2&comma;000 MW in nine years”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Union was quick to describe the three-point agenda of Atiku Abubakar&comma; whose ambition is the privatization of refineries&comma; rail sector&comma; transmission company of Nigeria &lpar;TCN&rpar; and breaking the monopoly of all other infrastructure operations&comma; as dead on arrival&comma; asking Atiku to tell Nigerians&comma; how many of the over 60 enterprises privatized under his chairmanship of the National Council on Privatization &lpar;NCP&rpar; in 1999 are functioning optimally today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; in something reminiscent to a respite&comma; the Chairman&comma; Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission &lpar;NERC&rpar;&comma; Mr&period; Sanusi Garba&comma; has announced to the press yesterday&comma; that Nigerians would witness improved power supply from July 1st&comma; following renewed efforts by industry stakeholders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Garba said there was a meeting&comma; which was attended by top officials of NERC&comma; Transmission Company of Nigeria &lpar;TCN&rpar;&comma; Generation Companies as well electricity Distribution Companies&comma; wherein an agreement was reached between the Gencos&comma; TCN and the 11 DisCos that would guarantee the generation&comma; transmission and distribution of an average of 5&comma;000MW of electricity daily to customers effective July 1st&period; He said the contract would be binding on all the players across the sector’s value chain&comma; with the stipulation of penalties for any party that defaults on the new arrangement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>How far the government would go in the fulfilment of this promise&comma; remains to rescue the rift&comma; between a miracle and a mirage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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