Power Crisis: Senate Rejects Temporary Ban on Generator Importation

…As Senate Moves to Organize National Round Table Discussion
on Power.

Shouts of “Nay” rented the air in the Red-Chambers during
Tuesday’s plenary session as the Senate tremendously shut down a
temporary ban on generator importation into the country.

The motion which was an additional prayer moved by Senator
Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East) was aimed at curtailing the
activities of generator importers as a means of making the
Government sit up to address the nation’s power problems. Fadahunsi
in his contribution to a motion moved by Senator Utazi Chukwuka
titled “Addressing Nigeria’s Power Problems” made the prayer during
a call for additional prayers by Senate President Ahmed Lawan the
prayer was however shut down in a voice vote by the Senators.

Sponsor of the motion, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North)
said Nigeria, with a population of 200 million and an annual growth
rate of 2.6 percent per annum, is the seventh most populous nation
on earth.

According to Utazi, the power generating or installed capacity
of Nigeria in relation to its population and Gross Domestic Product
cannot place the country to compete favourably in terms of
development with other nations.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to find
solutions to the power deficits faced by the country.

Citing Indonesia and the Philippines as examples, the lawmaker
noted that both countries with a population of 267 million and 107
million, respectively, have installed power capacity of 60,000
megawatts and generating capacity of 42,465 megawatts as well as
installed capacity of 20,055 megawatts and generating capacity of
16,271 megawatts.

The lawmaker while expressing optimism that Nigeria can set a
realisable target of generating capacity of 100,000 megawatts in
the next ten years, said the same can be achieved through a mix of
energy sources such as natural gas, hydro, coal, wind and renewable
energy.

He added that the various zones in the country are naturally
positioned to take advantage of the various energy mix and
renewables, particularly solar energy.

“The northern part of the country with vast expanse of land can
tap into large solar farms while the southern parts of the country
with significant reserves of natural gas and coal can generate
power from same.

“Both the North and South have large water bodies that can still
be dammed for hydro,” Utazi said.

The lawmaker further posited that Nigeria can improve on its
transmission infrastructure by up-scaling its networks from the
current 330kv and 132kv to 765kv super grid to enable big power
plants to send power through such grid over long distances.

He added that beyond generation and transmission, Distribution
Companies (DisCos) lack the financial and technical capacities
required, thereby resulting in their inability to pay for power
which Generation Companies (GenCos) delivered to the grid.

However, Senator Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East), in his comments
said :

“We have to look into the activities of generator importers,
this has been our problem since we have alternatives. Our
international airports are still running on generators. If we rely
solely on our nation’s power generation we shall know how to revive
it . If the government can at least for five years ban the
importation of generators we shall sit tight and get serious.
Senator

Francis further expressed that nation’s power sector was
privatized in haste error to people who had no expertise in power.
He’s said” the problem is the way power generation and distribution
was concessioned hurriedly in the past to certain people who did
not know about power just because they had money.

Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central ), in his comments, urged
the Federal Government to look into other sources of power
generation.

He said ” We can generate energy from other sources like coal,
hydro,gas and solar. We needed to for example to determine how much
percentage of power can we generate using coal”. If we take Gombe,
Enugu, Kogi we have enough coal in those states to generate this
100 000 megawatts that we seek, but we have decided not to take any
action”. Let’s go ahead and dismantle whatever needs to be
dismantled, let’s make sure that if we divide this according to the
six zones we have maybe Southeast Electric distribution company,
Southwest Electric distribution company and so on.

The Senate resolved to set up an adhoc committee on the problems
of power generation, transmission and distribution in Nigeria to
investigate the various power issues and report back within four
weeks , it also resolved to organize a national roundtable
discussion on the problems and solutions on the nation’s power

Senate Probes Gencos, Discos over unsteady power
supply
…Power Committee to submit probe report in four weeks

The Senate has mandated its Committee on Power to investigate
the activities of power generating and distribution companies with
a view to unraveling the cause of unsteady power supply in
Nigeria.

The investigating committee has four weeks to submit its report
to the Senate for consideration.

The decision by the upper chamber to probe power generation,
transmission and distribution in the country was reached sequel to
a motion considered during plenary on Tuesday.

Sponsor of the motion, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North)
said Nigeria, with a population of 200 million and an annual growth
rate of 2.6 percent per annum, is the seventh most populous nation
on earth.

According to Utazi, the power generating or installed capacity
of Nigeria in relation to its population and Gross Domestic Product
cannot place the country to compete favourably in terms of
development with other nations.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to find
solutions to the power deficits faced by the country.

Citing Indonesia and Philippines as examples, the lawmaker noted
that both countries with a population of 267 million and 107
million, respectively, have installed power capacity of 60,000
megawatts and generating capacity of 42,465 megawatts as well as
installed capacity of 20,055 megawatts and generating capacity of
16,271 megawatts.

The lawmaker while expressing optimism that Nigeria can set a
realisable target of generating capacity of 100,000 megawatts in
the next ten years, said same can be achieved through a mix of
energy sources such as natural gas, hydro, coal, wind and renewable
energy.

He added that the various zones in the country are naturally
positioned to take advantage of the various energy mix and
renewables, particularly solar energy.

“The northern part of the country with vast expanse of land can
tap into large solar farms while the southern parts of the country
with significant reserves of natural gas and cola can generate
power from same.

“Both the north and South have large water bodies that can still
be dammed for hydro,” Utazi said.

The lawmaker further posited that Nigeria can improve on its
transmission infrastructure by up-scaling its networks from the
current 330kv and 132kv to 765kv super grid to enable big power
plants to send power through such grid over long distances.

He added that beyond generation and transmission, Distribution
Companies (DisCos) lack the financial and technical capacities
required, thereby resulting in their inability to pay for power
which Generation Companies (GenCos) deliver to the grid.

Underscoring the motive behind the privatization of the power
sector in 2013, Utazi stressed that the objective in privatizing
power distribution assets was not to achieve highest financial
bids, but rather to get capable companies that can achieve the
lowest Average Technical Commercial and Collection losses within
five years.

In her contribution, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central)
said the failure of the power sector was largely due to the refusal
of the leadership of past governments to embrace new ideas.

According to her, “Government should embrace new ideas that
would take Nigeria to the next level.”

Another lawmaker, Senator Jibrin Barau (APC, Kano North) said
uninterrupted power supply remains a fundamental requirement needed
in a modern economy.

The lawmaker, who bemoaned previous policies particularly under
the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, said the
power problems of the country remain the same despite their
introduction.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to engage all
stakeholders in the power sector with a view to coming up with
workable solutions to Nigeria’s power crisis.

“We need to bring experts together to look at the power sector
as a whole in a bid to realising these targets. Our companies are
now being moved to Ghana, this is because of power.

“The Committee on Power should get everybody together.
Government cannot do it alone. Let’s bring everybody together so we
can find a lasting solution to this problem,” Barau stressed.

Senator representing Cross River South, Gershom Bassey, said
what Nigeria needs to resolve its power problem is to develop the
country’s transmission infrastructure.

According to him, Nigeria’s transmission infrastructure
currently lacks the capacity to withstand an increase to power
generation.

The lawmaker however advised the Federal Government to build on
existing policy frameworks inherited from past administrations.

Accordingly, the Senate urged the Federal Government to upgrade
the transmission infrastructure of Nigeria’s power grid for a more
efficient transmission of power.

While advocating for 100,000 megawatts installed capacity to
match the size of Nigeria’s economy and population, the upper
chamber urged the Federal Government to break-up the country’s
power distribution companies into smaller, more manageable
distribution companies for optimal performance.

Signed:

Ezrel Tabiowo
Special Assistant (Press)
to the President of the Senate