By Adetola Bademose
•says 90 million Nigerians lack access to electricity
President Bola Tinubu on Monday, said 10 years post privatisation, the power sector key objectives has not been met.
This was even as he lamented that over 90 million of Nigerians still lack access to electricity.
He stated this at the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) Market Participants and Stakeholder Roundtable held in Abuja.
According to him, the sector which was unbundled and privatised in 2013 was solely to improve its efficiency, unlock private sector investments and unleash the potential of the nation through an energized economy.
However, he said 10 years down the line, the national grid only serves about 15 percent of the country’s demand, leaving households and factories to rely on expensive self-generation, which supplies a staggering 40 percent of the country’s demand.
He said, “It is the perfect opportunity to reflect as a sector and as Government on the progress achieved and the challenges faced since the unbundling and privatization of the integrated national utility.
“10 years on, I believe it is fair to say that the objectives of sector privatization have by and large, not been met.”
While stating that “the total amount of electricity that can be wheeled through the national grid has remained relatively flat in the last 10 years”, he explained that the grid capacity only increased from just over 3000MW to 4,000MW.
He also noted that the Federal Government’s pre-privatization target of 40,000MW in 2020 had also failed.
Tinubu, who spoke through the Special Adviser, Energy and Infrastructure, Office of the Vice President, Sodiq Wanka, attributed the underperformance to deep commercial, governance and operational issues which have continued to plague the sector.
“The sector has suffered from chronic underinvestment, especially in transmission and distribution. Many of the successor utilities of the PHCN have failed to meet their performance improvement targets due to technical and financial capacity issues.
“We are in a vicious cycle of under-performance and under-investment, and everyone has a different view of which value chain player should be blamed for continued sector malaise,” he stated.
In view of this, he disclosed the government’s plans to develop a gas policy for the power sector as 80 percent of grid generation was currently from gas.
“We need to institute a Presidential Task Force that will monitor and unblock the progress of deployment of key projects in the sector.
“We have to accelerate the pace of deployment of renewables and solar in places where it makes sense. There is a real opportunity to accelerate the deployment of inter-connected and isolated mini-grids to deliver power close to the point of use,” he added.
Earlier, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu stressed the need for more private sector collaborations to boost efficiency in the sector.
He also urged investors to adhere to the terms and conditions of their license, warning that the Government would not hesitate to,”take the appropriate decision to make the sector perform the way it is supposed to.
“One, by invoking the necessary clauses in the terms and conditions in the licenses and the performance agreement signed with the FG as well as the sections of the 2023 EPRSA. I need to let you know that renewal of licenses cannot be automatic.
“This is ten years after. A number of licenses will be expiring. This is the time to have serious conversations.”
On his part, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said the Electricity Act, 2023 will help “address the inconsistencies, the areas of lacunae, incorporate changes borne of the evolution of a privatized NESI, establish the grounds of a broader participation of the states in the electricity value chain, as well as put in place mechanisms or measures to dissuade those who would increase our challenges by stealing electricity or vandalizing related equipment.”
