By Calixthus Okoruwa
When a few years ago, it emerged that Ikeja Electric and a few other DISCOs had unveiled a rather diabolical plan by which they concentrated electricity supply only to the elitist districts of town, leaving the poorer districts to wallow in the perennial regime of poor and unpredictable supply, I reasoned that they would be cautioned by the industry regulator soon. For clearly, it is unfair for DISCOs to focus the paltry electricity supply they receive, squarely on the tiny segment of the population whom they refer to as “premium customers” to the detriment of the rest of society.
Developments over the last few days relating to the release of the new electricity tariffs have led me to believe that many Nigerians do not understand the implications of the diabolical segregation which the DISCOs initiated and which NERC (Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission) has now accepted and endorsed as a state policy. Apparently, in the face of a lack of public opposition to the discriminatory services rendered by the DISCOs, NERC has had no hesitation in upholding these practices as reflected in its official recognition of different “Bands” of electricity provision in the country. There are bands ranging from 20 to 24 hour daily electricity supply for the wealthiest segments of society to 4 hour daily supply (or less) for the poorest segments of society.
Pray, of what use is 4 hours of unreliable and unpredictable electricity supply per day to anyone? Of what use is it to the micro SME operating a hair/beauty salon, a provisions store, beer parlour or restaurant? Of what use is 4 hours of electricity to the market woman who operates a commercial pepper blender or sells frozen fish? But 4 hours of electricity daily (or less) is the fate of millions of our countrymen and women who live in the poorest of our neighbourhoods. Why has Nigeria adopted a policy of practically restricting access by the poorest in our country to electricity? And why has the rest of society simply accepted this as a fait accompli?
Today’s power sector in Nigeria would provide material for an elaborate comedy, if it weren’t so tragic. How does a country purport to plan so elaborately only to end up deceiving and inflicting pain and suffering on its citizens? But worse, why are Nigerians so accepting of government failure? Why are Nigerians so incapable of holding their inept leadership to account?
In August 2010 when the elaborate Roadmap of Nigeria’s power sector was unveiled, many Nigerians dared to hope in the prospects of the sector. Afterall, the telecom industry which had similarly been in a state of arrested development for decades had been liberalized and in a few years that sector had witnessed a radical revival. We were hopeful that with the forthcoming liberalization of the power sector, a similar revolution would happen in the power sector.
The 2010 Roadmap estimated an annual investment in the power sector of circa $10billion. It envisaged a gradual increase in the quantum of electricity made available to citizens, and set a target of 40,000 megawatts of electricity in Nigeria by 2020. It promised a more stable, more predictable and less erratic regime of electricity for Nigerians, all Nigerians, not just the rich and well-to-do, who inhabit the more salubrious districts of our cities.
In 2024, more than a decade after the power sector was eventually liberalized in 2013, Nigeria is still tottering on the perennial 5,000 megawatts of electricity. Grid collapses have become so frequent that Nigerians do not see the phenomenon as abnormal anymore. The sector itself is opaque, reeling in inefficiencies, corruption and clearly inept leadership. Unfortunately, the citizenry has failed woefully in its duty of holding the leadership of the power sector to account.
Government has a shareholding of 40 percent in the DISCOs and the GENCOs, while it has total ownership of the consistently under-performing Transmission Company of Nigeria. What has government interest in these companies translated to, in terms of investment? Has the entire power sector, benefitted from an investment inflow of up to a billion dollars since it was liberalized in 2013? Clearly, it hasn’t. Indeed at the last count, several government establishments headlined by Aso Rock Villa were listed as being heavily indebted to the DISCOs to the tune of billions of Naira.
To cover its ineptitude, the government has now adopted discrimination as state policy in the power sector, with millions of poor people only qualifying for a maximum of 4 hours of electricity daily. Yet Nigerians fail to see the paradox and sheer self-cannibalism in such a policy. How does providing a maximum of 4 hours of electricity to millions of urban and rural poor contribute to Nigeria’s economic emancipation?
In China, the country is subsidizing electricity for its manufacturing sector to stimulate industrialization and keep its exports competitive. In Germany, a few years ago, the country produced so much renewable energy that citizens were offered monetary payment by the government to consume the excess electricity. Yet in Nigeria, despite the abundance of solar energy and despite the huge expanses of land suitable for wind farms, despite the billions annually budgeted for the power sector, we have remained hopelessly on 5,000 megawatts of electricity or less. And the citizens are being fooled into believing that segregating electricity consumers and supplying more frequent levels of electricity to the sprinkling of high-tariff paying customers is the solution to the power problem. It isn’t and never will be. There is no justification for keeping millions of Nigerians in perpetual darkness, just because they live in the poorer districts. The government owes a duty to provide public utilities like electricity to all citizens in a just, equitable and non-discriminatory manner.
The power sector leadership in particular, continues to be singularly indolent and incapable of a diligent implementation of a rigorously articulated power sector roadmap. It needs to be held to account for the tragedy of a nation in perpetual darkness. Nigeria bleeds uncontrollably from the morbid dysfunction of its power sector. Citizens need to live up to our responsibilities to diligently monitor and hold our leaders to account. A more disciplined and attentive citizenry diligently interrogating every move of government is more difficult to gaslight.
Calixthus Okoruwa
