There are 11 electricity distribution companies in Nigeria. The majority of them violated the agreement they entered with the Federal Government. There are over 20 electricity generating companies in Nigeria today but the top six GenCos providing the country with electricity are Egbin Power Limited, Transcorp Power, Shiroro, Kainji/Jebba, Sapele, and Geregu. They have also failed to inject money into power generation and are begging the government for funds.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not against the privatization of NEPA, but I am certainly not happy with the hurried way the government sold the utility corporation without putting it in good shape so that the private hands that will buy it will have a smooth and easy take-up.
I was against selling the power corporation to former leaders, cronies and incompetent men by the Jonathan administration.
The past government didn’t rehabilitate the power plants before selling them. All money set aside was stolen by officials. The government refused to listen. We said they should take a cue from the global trend.
Almost all countries around the world began their power reforms from different starting points with a long history of handing over relatively well-managed power corporations.
In contrast, Nigeria is privatizing inherited pieces of the old NEPA systems, a derelict corporation where power generation was allowed to dip below 3500mw.
Nigeria will be the only nation in the world that sold its utility corporation at such an abysmal low power generation level, 3500MW to be precise.
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Privatization of the Power and Natural Gas Industries around the world has a starting point which includes: industry structure, wholesale market, labor and management relations, regulatory framework, privatization objectives, and privatization methods.
Nigeria was so much in a hurry to sell out the entire system without taking a holistic appraisal of the likely consequences of the exercise to the nation.
And this explains why the country will remain in darkness for a very long time!
Last year I took a risk praising NEPA, I even called it by its new darling name PHCN, because light ran uninterrupted for 7 days. A friend cautioned me that a leopard will never change its colors.
He was right. Inside my room, I heard a loud sound from the transformer near my window. I took to my heels thinking it was Boko Haram, leaving my 3 years chief who in his own way, froze like a turtle, out of fear.
Fast track to 31st Oct 2018
Just back from a long trip, I met light that has been on for 4 days. I checked the freezers, they seemed to be fine with ice blocks chilling inside.
I knew my gadgets were not used to steady light, a well behaved NEPA will make them misbehave, losing some fuses, or at worst capacitors, that is if the house did not catch fire.
I did the wise thing and removed the change-over gear from NEPA and put it on neural. Everything went quiet in my house, there was relative peace until outside I saw a flash that resembled lightning. A loud bang followed and the whole area was again in darkness.
The following day, neighbors had bitter tales about their electronics being destroyed by almighty NEPA.
By Aliyu Nuhu