Amid the pervasive darkness and economic lull that has made Nigeria the heart of darkness inside the dark continent, the decision by the Senate Committee on Privatization to reject outright cancellation of power sector privatization, as being clamored, provides no basis for optimism that tomorrow would be better, even as Nigerians continue to pay more for darkness. The committee chairman, Senator Ben Murray Bruce, said the upper legislative chamber is interested in assessing how privatization of power has fared either in terms of failure or success; and the committee plans a public hearing to this effect. Three years after privatization, the unending power outage has defied every solution, while Nigeria portrays the dishonorable tag of biggest importer of power generating sets in Africa. And the answer to the problem, according to the Senate, is another public hearing? Honestly speaking, this is a gratuitous insult to the collective intelligence and sensibilities of Nigerians. If any solution is to be found, the power companies should be held accountable; and this includes revoking their licenses, if necessary.
After wasting taxpayers money on a fact-finding visit to the Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) last week, with a team from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Bruce said: “We are not in favor of outright cancellation of the process. If a bad deal was done in some areas let us fix it and move on. The Committee’s intention is to look at how to fix problems of privatization. In other words, what can be done to solve the problems.” Bruce argued that some of the problems confronting were unforeseen: “nobody knew there was going to be economic recession, or Naira devaluation of this magnitude,” which is why the Discos could not collect tariff at prevailing market rate due to high foreign exchange rate and the economic recession.
Before the recession, the deteriorating power supply was blamed on gas shortage; and it was one excuse after another. At this stage of global development in terms of electricity generation and supply, Nigerians should not be burdened with such excuses. When the new power regime came on board Nigerians expected that the new investors would have done their homework, identified the challenges of the sector, and prepared to address them before acquiring the assets. On this understanding, Nigerians were assured at the establishment of these companies that incessant blackout would be a thing of the past. As it is, the situation is far worse than where we were; thereby making the attainment of 20,000 megawatts by 2020 an unrealistic bad joke.
It is an insulting and shameful paradox that Nigeria, with one of the largest liquefied natural gas reserves in the world could have the effrontery to adduce shortage of gas as the principal reason for the failure to generate power. According to World Bank estimates, Nigeria currently loses on average $2.5 billion (N350 billion) annually to gas flaring. Nigeria has a natural production of over two billion cubic feet, of which 60% is flared, while 90% of the remaining 40% is exported as liquefied natural gas. It is argued that the volume of gas flared is capable of generating up to six gigawatts of electric power annually. To get things right requires political will. But even on matters as crucial as power, Nigeria has put the cart before the horse. Most power stations were built in the 1970s and 80s before thinking of the economics of gas management. Pipelines to transport gas are either old or vandalized and the modalities for gas supply overlooked. In classic profligacy and wastefulness, the little percentage of gas accruable for local consumption cannot even be harnessed as only around 15 of the 79 power stations are fully functioning.
Since November 2013 when the electricity sector was privatized and handed over to new investors, the rationale behind that exercise has been far from justified. An increasingly diminishing capacity of the Gencos and Discos is very evident in the pervasive darkness across the country. In spite of the criminally high tariffs that have come with the new regime, the worsening power outages are also a sad development for Nigerians who had had high hopes for steady power supply. Moreover, besides killing small businesses and subjecting the populace to low quality of living, it is also a mockery of a nation that seeks to be one of the most industrialized nations in the year 2020.
The Senate’s repugnant position is certainly troubling as it amounts to a tacit support of unrestrained importation of power generating sets, in the absence of an efficient public supply of electricity. Is Bruce not aware that dealers of generating sets hide under the importation regime to frustrate electricity supply in the country? The Senate cannot feign ignorance how generator importers strangulate the economy and ensure that every household, business unit – from small through medium to large- virtually becomes an independent power generator as a survival (defensive) mechanism.
A majority of Nigerians live below one dollar per day because of epileptic power supply which blocks job opportunities, while businesses are being choked to death by high power overruns. The manufacturing sector has collapsed due to the woeful performance of the power sector which has remained comatose for about two decades; thus exposing Nigerian leaders’ lack of vision, coupled with sheer insensitivity to the plight of citizens. Nigeria’s indiscretion to be import dependent on generators is a big boost to exporters like China. It is obvious Nigeria is a dumpsite economy, a nation of anything goes and where public officials revel in cluelessness. The global research firm GBI Research published a depressing report on the generator importation regime, claiming importation was expected to consume about N151.16 billion ($950.7 million) by 2020.
This scenario is a testimony to how articulate the government can be in terms of planlessness and lack of focus, thus raising questions about the real intention of the privatization of the power sector. Did the government consider what the Gencos needed to work well? Were the Gencos a mere give-away? Or is it a case that they were bought cheaply? Upon deep reflection, the whole exercise advertises a lack of national interest and portrays privatization as an indiscriminate sharing of public assets. The folly in the privatization of power supply could be observed in the domino effect on the telecommunication and aviation industries. Already service providers are blaming their inadequate services on the absence of reliable power supply, which they claim is responsible for high overheads.
It is instructive that the Senate has decided to look the other way, at the expense of the people whose welfare they are mandated to improve. Typical of successive administrations, promises that are never kept have become the hallmark of governance. For instance, Nigerians have patiently waited for an emergency to be declared in the power sector, only to be fed with award of billion- dollar contracts showcasing funds that end up oiling wheels of corruption among the elite.
As long as the privatized power licenses are not revoked; as long as the privatized firms grapple with inherited degenerative problems of the power sector, so will the corruption-driven import regime continue to the advantage of a few and eternal dislocation of most hapless Nigerians waiting for improvement in power supply that President Buhari promised; on the basis of which he solicited and received votes into office. His administration should have the honor to make true this promise. And Nigerians must hold him to the promise.
