In-support-of-the-one-million-letters-to-relevant-government-authorities-on-the-urgent-need-to-address-nigerias-electricity-supply-deficit-with-new-technology-and-competent-hands

BabaTunde Fashola, Minister for Works, Power and Housing

It is an established fact that no nation across the globe has ever attained any significant measure of development that has greatly improved the Standard of living of its citizenry, without having steady and reliable power supply. More real as this fact may sound, it appears it has not really sunk into the heads of our past and present political leaders who, from time immemorial, have been doing more of talking and playing politics with Nigeria’s power supply projects than they are actually taking concrete actions to address the situation. The most annoying aspect about all of this is the fact that Nigeria is blessed beyond measure with the natural resources and wherewithal to transform the nation’s power sector which has been “generator-driven for years”, into what it ought to be. Even when suggestions are brought forward by relevant stakeholders and concerned Nigerians, on ways to address the nation’s power supply problem, our Nigerian Government Officials concerned have formed the habit of playing deaf ears.
This is why we decided to join voices with a recent movement to draw the attention of the relevant Nigerian Government Authorities in the Power Sector, and urge that the relevant Government authorities should consider other available options in addressing this electricity problem. In a recent well-circulated online video, Mr. Aron Emmanuel, noted that; “the biggest problem in Nigeria is the problem of electricity.” Hence, he decided to come up with a One Million-Letter Protest campaign to draw the attention of Government, Minister of Power, Presidency, and other stakeholders in the nation’s power sector.
According to Emmanuel IB, “A truck manufactured by a Company called General Electrics (GE), can address Nigeria’s power sector problems. The truck is a mobile electricity/turbine truck. It is a truck that moves, and can supply electricity by moving to the location where electricity is needed. The smallest of the truck supplies 32 Megawatt (MW) of electricity - that is huge electricity. If you put 10 of these trucks together, you are talking about 320 MW of electricity which is enough to supply 24 hours/7-days a week (24/7) of electricity to a State like Edo State. The truck has gas turbine. The Gas turbine can generate electricity without stopping. It is the same gas that we have all over Nigeria. This truck/turbine machine can be delivered by GE in 2 months. Not only that, these turbines after GE has delivered them, they can be made operational between 11 to 12 days in any location they are brought to Nigeria. So, the question is, how do we get gas to these turbines? The answer is simple, you set two or three trucks that carry gas and make them run to the gas depot, to get gas, they can go and come back. You have big tanks in these turbines that can be filled with gas to keep the turbine running 24/7. Today, we have about, if electricity is supposedly booming, 3000 to 4000MW of electricity to feed the entire country. Sometimes, they tell you that the capacity has fallen below average to having about 2000-2500 MW.
“These GE machines are not expensive. The money that was found in the apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, $43million, can buy quite a number of the machines. These turbines, GE has installed them in a lot of places. They have installed them in Egypt, Angola, Tanzania, in a lot of places - countries that do not have enough money like Nigeria. Countries that have not invested the kind of money we have invested in electricity in Nigeria. The big question is, why is Nigeria not working with GE to make sure that we have these turbines? As am speaking to you today, these turbines are available with GE. And I have spoken to them. GE, as I have said, can run one month, from signing the contract to commissioning it in eleven days... Once set up in ten minutes, 32mw of electricity will be produced. The question is, why is Nigeria in darkness? Because electricity technology has been existing for more than 100 years. It is not new. It is not something that has to take miracles or whatever, before it can happen. It is not like we do not have the money, because Nigeria has budgeted so much money over the years on electricity, but nobody has seen the result. Me, I am fed up, and am so angry, because I have travelled around the world, and I have seen what other countries are doing, and it pains me why is our country still backward? Why are Nigerians like sub-humans? They are not like real humans like others, but a bit lower than others because I do not understand how you can live in a country, in a world where you have companies from the other side of the world that can provide 24/7 electricity?
Even 10 hours constant electricity …by just driving ten trucks to Nigeria, and we have the gas to run these trucks. Yet, our leaders are not buying into this arrangement. They are not installing it, and everybody is behaving like they know what they are doing. That is why I have said, Nigerians need to wake up, because this is no longer tolerable. Nigeria is becoming an embarrassment to the world. I was talking with a friend the other day, and he said Nigeria is not becoming an embarrassment. Nigeria is an embarrassment to the world because Nigeria has become like the madman in the world. When a madman is misbehaving, people laugh at the madman and you laugh at the madman too, until you realize that the madman is a family member, then it is no longer funny, what the madman is doing.
“That is how Nigeria is. We are not supposed to be in this situation. Electricity supply has a proven technology. Write to your leaders, join me to write a one million letters to those concerned. If they do not know where GE is, I can take them to GE in the United States of America, and introduce them to the CEO of GE, and tell them. It is not an excuse that Nigeria do not have money. GE can even arrange to finance these things. There are ways to finance such a project requiring equipment in the world, it is not just by paying cash. So, there is no excuse. The Nigeria Government has no excuse for not providing 24 hours/7 days of a week electricity to Nigerians. The technology is there, it is not expensive. We have the resources, God-given resources – which is gas, to run these turbines. After listening to/reading this message, if you love staying in the dark, then do not do anything. But if you love to have stable electricity, please join me on the one million letters to the leaders. We want to have 24 hours electricity in Nigeria. It is doable, enough of this procrastination. Enough of the talk, lets get down to business and do this.”
For as long as we can remember, all we have witnessed from Nigeria’s political leaders are promises to do this and that to improve the nation’s power Generation, Transmission and Distribution sectors. But rather than the power situation in the country to improve, it has gone from bad to worse. It is sad that the Nigeria’s power supply output has one time gone as low as over 1000MW (Megawatts) and the highest of about 5000MW – for a population of about 182 million people. This is why it is a shame that Nigeria’s per capita electricity consumption is amongst the lowest in the world and far lower than many other African countries. Nigeria’s per capita electricity consumption is just seven per cent of Brazil’s and about three per cent of South Africa’s. Brazil has 100,000MW (Megawatts) of grid-based generating capacity for a population of 201 million people. South Africa has 40,000MW of grid-based generating capacity for a population of about 60 million people. The Power Distribution sector in Nigeria is a big national headache on its own, which calls for serious concern. One would have thought that by now, the Federal Government would have sacked the so-called Power Distribution Companies like the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), and send them packing for their gross ineptitude in power distribution in their areas of concern.
When compared to other countries, we can see the clear-cut disparity and reason why Nigeria is practically taking one step forward and two steps backward in our industrialization drive. Yet, other countries in Africa, and those in Asia like China, have gone light ahead to innovate more efficient and reliable source of energy for its population. In countries like China, they have completed the largest floating Photovoltaic (PV) facility on earth and connected it to the country’s local power grid. Long reviled for its carbon emission record, this is the Chinese Government’s latest achievement in its ongoing effort to lead the world in renewable energy adoption, and we believe this sprawling, floating solar power plant could change the way other nations design city centres. Even our African neigbours, Burkina Faso, is now home to West Africa’s biggest solar farm, with its 33-MegaWatt (MW) plant located in the town of Zatubi, outside the capital Ouagadougou. Built at a cost of $56.7 million, the 55-hectare (approximately 135-acre) farm is expected to power tens of thousands of households in the country. It was funded through donations from the European Union and a loan from AFD – France’s development agency. What is important to note here is the fact that most African countries that have longed depended on hydroelectric and thermal energy are now shifting to solar energy with abundance of the sun in the region. 
Here in Nigeria, we have even used the abundant gas reserves to transform the nation’s electricity demands, not to talk of exploring other sources of energy like the sun. If we remember correctly, some time last year, the Minister of Power, Works And Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fasola, said Nigeria has the potential of generating 12,000MW (Megawatts) but unfortunately, we have only attained a maximum of 5,000MW in the history of a country of 182million people. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, and its population is expected to grow to 230 million by the year 2030. This means the Government really needs to tighten up its belt to address the issue of power generation and supply in the country to meet the needs of such a growing population. The fact, according to experts, is that any developed industrial nation needs at least one Gigawatt (GW) of electricity generation for consumption by every one million head of population. 
The bottom line is that if there are better options out there that we can get to improve the nation’s power supply as suggested above, why have the Nigerian Government not considered it? If a country like Burkina Faso can develop West Africa’s biggest Solar Farm to improve its power supply and also create jobs for its young population, why can’t the Nigerian Government and relevant authorities in the Ministry of Power do something similar, or even something bigger to address the pressing need of power deficits in the country? How would our Nigerian economy be left to be generator-driven in this 21st century? How can we develop with this? Is the Nigerian Government not joking?
 
 
Zik Gbemre
 
 
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