It is strange in Nigeria that a state like Kebbi can boast of 24-hour electricity. I thank Governor Atiku Bagudu for setting this example. The governor’s mission was to provide 24 hours uninterrupted power, hence, he bought over 200 transformers and other important electricity facilities that would make it possible for distribution company to supply regular electricity to Birnin Kebbi and the 21 local government areas of the state. The current electricity supply is as a result of the government’s strategic move to tapping from the power supplied to the Niger Republic. States and local governments have adjusted to the reality of power privatization in Nigeria. The reality that emerged after privatization for states and local governments to limit investment in power sector since 2013. Governor Bagudu has increased Kebbi State investment in the areas of reinforcing and re-strengthening the existing 33/11KV network. Over 80% of the distribution transformers, ranging from 100KVA to 500KVA are already overloaded were reinforced and re-strengthened. Governor Bagudu has increased the participation of people and community leaders in collecting revenue for Kaduna Discos. The Governor tied transformers to the people in terms of revenue generation for the disco. The Governor has involved the people in the maintenance of electricity poles across Kebbi State.
Governor Atiku Bagudu bought more transformers, assisted electric transmission and distribution agencies with necessary facilities to Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (which supplies Kebbi State) and also created infrastructure to boost regular power supply in the state. Power cuts only last for minutes – not hours like in all the other states in Nigeria. In Birnin Kebbi alone, there are four power control stations. What is largely responsible for stable electricity supply in Birnin Kebbi is the availability of necessary electricity facilities like transformers, injection stations and others.
Federal Government was reported last week, to be planning to sell electricity to Burkina Faso __ a neighbouring West African country. This rather shocking and disturbing information was revealed by Managing Director of Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited, MESL, Mr. Lamu Audu, at the annual Power and Utilities Roundtable organised in Lagos by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). According to Audu, MESL which operates Kainji and Jebba hydro power plants took this decision so as to fully utilise energy being rejected by electricity distribution companies (DISCOS). Kaduna disco is equally appealing to Governor Bagudu to allow Kebbi State take more of the stranded energy.
The undertakers of the privatization exercise as contained in the (EPSR Act 2005), only took cognizance of the legal framework, not minding the role of states and local governments investments in power sector and the engineering framework. Governor Atiku Bagudu has reintroduced state investment in power sector after its privatization in 2013. The electricity industry was not ripe for privatization at that particular point in time; it was carried out in a hurry and haphazardly which led to the neglect of states and local governments investments in the power sector.
Governor Atiku Bagudu has reintroduced supply, carry out major rehabilitation work on obsolete equipment such as transformers, feeders, sub-stations and others, that need to be replaced with new ones by power distribution companies (DisCos) to adequately supply power to the consumers. Since the operators are not having enough money to play around with, they need to bring in more investors into the industry to provide the fund needed to move the sector forward.
Governor Atiku Bagudu has reintroduced major rehabilitation work on Injection Substation in a bid to improve power supply to the people. States used to carry out rehabilitation as a result of frequent breakdown occasioned by obsolete equipment at the substation, which most times led to serious load shedding and power outages in Nigeria. State and local government used to carry out major rehabilitation work on the switch gear panels and cables were completely replaced with new ones to ensure stable and quality power from the injection stations.
Governor Atiku Bagudu has reintroduced major rehabilitation work, upgrade 11KV feeders to supply power to all the communities within the coverage areas, unlike in the past when the feeders could not be energised at the same time. State and local government used to carry out major rehabilitation work and invest in key infrastructure such as gas pipelines, equipment used in the distribution, generation and transmission of electricity, and other facilities. The distribution intervention projects by Governor Bagudu include some Km of 33kV Lines, Km of 11kV Lines, some 199no distribution transformers (100KVA, 200KVA, 300KVA, 500 KVA), 148MVA injection substation capacity added and 108MVA distribution transformers capacity added.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, recently laid blame on obsolete equipments as the reason distribution companies (Discos) rejected over 9,000 megawatts of electricity within one week recently. He said that power generation has grown from 2,690 megawatts in 2015 to 6,800 this August, noting that there is a problem with distribution caused by the inability of Discos to upgrade their equipment to the level of the generation being made.
According to him, an average of 4,000 megawatts of power are not accepted regularly, due to the weak capacity of the equipment being used by the Discos. He said that some of the equipment acquired by the Discos upon privatisation have become antiquated and obsolete and hence, require being upgraded if they would be able to absorb and distribute the existing megawatts of electricity.
Governor Bagudu quickly intervened to provide 24 hour electricity to Kebbi State and save Kaduna Disco from collapse in the state. Failure of DISCOs to provide Distribution Substation Operators (DSOs) to man completed substations as well as their failure to take over some completed injection substation and lackadaisical attitude of DISCOs to service customers from the Completely Self Protected (CSP) transformers, hence failure to utilise already handed-over High Voltage Distribution System, amongst others highlighted states and local governments investments in power sector that was underestimated by former President Goodluck Jonathan during power privatization.
The privatization of distribution and generation companies has not resulted in any departure from the past but Governor Bagudu of Kebbi State has provided an example on how electricity could be improved. The problem that the country had with NESCO, ECN, NDA, NEPA and PHCN are not different from the ones Nigerians have been battling since the advent of the privatized Discos and Gencos. We do not need a national grid; what we need are small plants meant to serve specified areas. With that it would be much easier to manage power generation and transmission. Transmission lines are poorly maintained and frequently vandalised, which resulted in transmission losses of over 25 per cent of electricity produced.
These regulations present some challenges to the state and local governments. It is not news that most local and state governments don’t have the necessary infrastructure or financial ability to generate electricity supply for their communities. Kebbi state has made a bold step. DISCOS cannot continue to underestimate states and local government investments in power because when we take a look at 33KV distribution lines across the country, you will observe that almost all the insulators, fibre cross-arms and poles are either broken, cracked or even shattered. I expect the DISCOs to have taken cognizance of states and local governments investments in power.
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Inwalomhe Donald writes from Birnin Kebbi, [email protected]
