Caption: L-R: Mr Segun Adeleye, President/CEO, World Stage; Mr. William from NACCIMA; Mr. Gabriel Idahosa, Deputy President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) Professor Olufemi Saibu from University of Lagos; and Mr. Johnson Akinnawo from Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC at the WES 2023 with the theme: National Dialogue on Electricity which took place on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at the Event Centre of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Lagos.
Unknown to many Nigerians, failure in regular electricity supply to households and businesses in the country is not only as a result of government negligence or lack of resources to generate it, but also due to complicated web of officialdom.
This was revealed by speakers during the panel discussion at the WorldStage Economic Summit 2023 with the theme: National Dialogue on Electricity which took place on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at the Event Centre of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Lagos.
At the she summit supported by Shell Nigeria, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Zenith Bank Plc, NNPC Limited and moderated by Professor Olufemi Saibu, Professor of Economics, University of Lagos, one of the panelists, Mr. Johnson Akinnawo who represented Dr. Nnamdi Nnemeka, the MD of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC revealing that the power sector was largely challenged by draught of investors.
Another panelist, Mr. Gabriel Idahosa, Deputy President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) who represented the President, Dr Michael Olawale-Cole, said to the contrary that refusal by federal government to grant electricity distribution companies the right of transmission had compromised their advantage to make profit.
Also exposing the defects that had been causing the country enormous electricity shortage, the representative of Mr Dele Kelvin Oye, National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. William pointed out that electricity generating companies in the Nigeria were challenged by inadequate infrastructure to operate optimally and urged government to address the problems.
larger ones whenever problems occurred. But he emphasized that the federal government s yet to take decision about breaking the grid down to smaller units as being suggested by some sections of the Nigerian public.
Asked about the current high tariff on electricity and what are responsible for it, he explained that electricity as a product must be sold at profit and urged the public to understand that.
Besides, he added, there is regulation in investment network of electricity which had to be understood so as to know why and how tariffs were calculated. Though, he lamented that it was a vicious cycle of a sort, he expressed optimism that Nigerians will soon benefit from the multi-pronged government’s efforts at improving electricity.
“So we are canvassing that transmission should be extended to companies generating and distributing electricity,” he stated.
Asked if the current tariff could be sustained to solve the problem of cost and purchasing power, he said it depended on the key player – government – since, according to him, it bears the cost.
“It’s a dilemma. The cost is not being fully recovered. The reality of high tariff is that unless the cost of gas is reduced to alleviate cost of generating electricity, the tariff will continue to go up. So to reduce tariff, investment in gas must be encouraged so as to reduce cost,” Idahosa explained.
Standard & Regulation, Inspection, Testing and Certification; Meeting the Nation’s needs across entire spectrum of energy value chain; Maintaining balance in gas supply for power generation; Meeting the Electricity Transmission Needs; The renewable energy option; An enabling environment for power generation; Sustainable tariff for electricity supply; Sustainable power supply with PPP; Achieving Energy Sufficiency With Equitable Local Content; Consumer protection; Attracting the right investments to the electricity sector, among others.”
He said it is unacceptable Nigeria currently has the lowest access to electricity globally, with about 92 million persons out of the country’s 200 million population lacking access to power.
The WorldStage boss said without prejudice to what the discussants will agree on at the summit, the President Bola Tinubu administration should shed more light on the state of agreement with the Siemens of Germany to help increase Nigeria’s electricity generation to 25,000MW in six years.
“The $2 billion deal is already behind schedule as it was structured to take the country’s grid operational capacity from less than 5,000MW to 7,000MW by 2021; increase the capacity to 11,000MW by 2023 and achieve total operational generation and national grid capacity to 25,000MW by 2025,” he said.
“As the country is endowed with abundant renewable energy resources, the significant ones being solar energy, biomass, wind, and small and large hydro-power with potential for hydrogen fuel, geothermal and ocean energies, the exploitation and utilization of renewable energy resources should also be a priority of the government.”
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