When we were young, the height of entertainment and social enjoyment was the organization, attendance and dancing at discos. It was an occasional event usually held once a year during school send-off parties or during holidays when students unions would add discos to their holiday programmes( which also included lessons and debates). Some entertainment entrepreneurs also organized discos occasionally. These are usually held in broad daylight, in primary school classrooms and attendees paid the appropriate fees to join the gig. 90% of the music played then was local, there were incidents of gate-crashing and ‘excuse-me-dance’ was allowed because there were never enough ‘chicks’ at those parties. That was the best we could have then and it was good enough.
Recently, the long-winding PHCN privatization came to a closure when brand-new GENCOS and DISCOS took over as successor companies of PHCN. Government continued to run the transmission aspect of the business and that was outsourced to the private sector. We rejoiced and especially when I remembered the discos of old, I imagined a future of joyful dancing on the power arena as the new players do the magic in that rotten sector where their only problem was/is that they have too many customers and they do not know what to do with those customers who are technically hostages! And then darkness; darkness and more darkness! In December 2013 and January 2014, I had the worst light story in living memory; I did not enjoy up to 60 hours of cumulative supply of light for those 60 days! And even though I wound down my Lagos economy for two weeks, I spent N35500 on fuel within that period. That was despite the fact that I put on the generators sparingly, using the ‘all-men-are-equal’(the smallest one that powers bulbs and fans) when absolutely necessary during the day and the ‘I big-pass-my-neighbor’( the bigger one that can power the fridge and compound lights) at night. Incidentally, President Jonathan declared at Davos 2014 that the power situation had improved dramatically. I was confused: was that a diplomatic statement; did he believe so; was that what he hoped for or was it to show that things were looking up? The NOI polls reported that power supply was worse in the last quarter of 2013 with 45% of the respondents reporting that they received 1-4 hours daily for December though 33% reported that there was some improvement with the North-East zone, the worst hit.
I had expected that it would take a little while for the discos to get us dancing but I did not anticipate this level of degeneration. So, when should we start dancing? Or rather giving the stories flying around here and there, shall we ever dance? What about the several issues that were in the ‘pending file’ before the PHCN unions reluctantly agreed or were forced to loosen their grip on the affairs of power sector? Report has it that 48 critical transmission equipment have broken down due to faults, fire and vandalism and these include lines, transformers, ground switches, breakers/isolators. (Punch, 31/1/14, p2) Don’t they have a store and some stock? Don’t they know that these things would break down? Should they not be proactive? Who could vandalise power equipments if not those who are power-connected? Sometimes in November 2013 the armoured cables in all the transformers in Igbo-ukwu and most neighbouring towns were stolen. Is there sabotage? Is it wise for the Government to manage the transmission process? Why did we retain the monopolistic structure of PHCN-because, nobody has a choice over which disco to relate tpatronise?
How soon do we solve the problem of aged generation and transmission infrastructure in a situation in which most of what is generated is lost in transit? When will the gas-shortage story end? It is estimated that at least, 40% of the revenue from power produced is lost through ageing infrastructure, outdated technology, power theft, inefficient accounting, poor billing and revenue collections (Searching for light in utter darkness-Rose Okere, Guardian 2/2/14, p25). How are we responding to that? How about the issue of estimated and crazy bills and artificial scarcity of meters which continues 4 months after the discos have taken over? What of those of us, actually most of us, who bought poles, wires and labour to ‘fire’ our houses; who owns those assets? How does President Jonathan intend to enforce his June 2014 ultimatum to the Discos and that is after we have had several failed deadlines?
Our power situation is dire and it is holding our families, businesses and the entire economy hostage. The Minister of Power has affirmed that only 40m Nigerians have access to our epileptic electricity while the remaining 120m+ depend on self help. This is similar to the outcome of the NOI polls disclosure that 80% of Nigerians generate their own electricity as at the second quarter of 2013. It was estimated that Nigerian telecom firms spend N46bn on fueling their generators in 2012; enough to generate 284.8mw to power Yobe or Taraba or Akwa-Ibom 24/7. The Good Governance Initiative estimates that Nigerians spend N3.5trn on fuel and gas annually. It is indeed a bleak picture that holds all of us in the jugular: entrepreneurs and SMEs cannot thrive; big organizations commit most of their funds on power while some ‘port’ to that our ‘frenemy’ West African country. All this happen because we produce 2500-4000 mw in a situation of 13000 peak demand.
The UNs decade of sustainable energy kicks this year 2014 and countries are expected to draw plans to provide access to their citizens by 2030. President Obama had launched the Power Africa Initiative in 2013 in Tanzania, designed to fire up 20m households and businesses for$7bn while the Us congress is expected to pass the Electrify Africa act-2014. These present opportunities for us to gird up our loins and go to work on the power sector. The light-up Nigeria project-starting with 232 LGs in the first instance- must work. The Gencos and Discos must do their jobs because it is too early in the day to be overwhelmed. The BusinessDay cartoon of 3/2/14 showed old men and women dancing furiously to disco sounds coming from a lantern hung on the ceiling. It was titled “the new disco light”. May that not be our portion!
Meanwhile, I have been generating, transmitting and distributing my own light for the past 20 years.( Muo & Muo Holdings:TRANSCO, GENCO & DISCO ). If these new operators find things very difficult, let them consult me. In the national interest, I assure them that my charges will be moderate!
By: Ik Muo
