‘Nigeria is the only country in the world where you see a man climb the bridge and begins to cut the railings.’
By Patience Ogbo/
For Nigeria’s electricity to become top-notch, there is a need for the Federal Government to revisit the privatization of the country’s power sector.
This was the position of Engr. Ifeoluwa Oyedele, one of the panellists at a lecture and academic award ceremony held at the University of Lagos, by the Old Boys Association of Government College Ibadan (GCI).
Oyedele is the Executive Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
The lecture with the theme ‘Resolving Nigeria’s Energy Challenges’ was part of a series of activities held in commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of GCI.
Ex-students who are captains of industries, politicians and academics among other professions witnessed the brainstorming session on shocking issues in Nigeria’s power generation and distribution.
Oyedele, with GCI school tag 2326, was a bright spark as he made a super-charged analytical presentation.
He said, “Nigeria is the only country in the world where you see a man climb the bridge and begins to cut the railings. People will go to a traffic light to remove the bulb. They can go and dismember a 330KVA substation and remove all the copper. This is very sad.
“The problem is that when we see a problem, we create a body to take care of that problem, but we abandon the problem. For instance, when we talked about corruption, we created EFCC, ICPC, the Code of Conduct Bureau, but has the problem been solved? No. Corruption is still growing in leaps and bounds.
“Where there is traffic, we created Yellow Fever, then Road Safety, and now we have LASTMA and all the variants of it at the local government, yet we cannot go on the road. It takes you eight hours instead of 15 minutes to Lekki.
“It is the same problem with privatization. It was a good idea. We sold giant network to companies that have not done anything. None has experience and the fund. They borrowed money and thought it was like the telephone and they will make money by sitting in their homes. And, because some areas have been given to them, it becomes impossible for you to go beyond that area. So we begin to hear things like eligibility customers.
“The problem we have today is that the discos are rejecting the load. So, even if you put 3000mwt and we can generate more than that, they cannot put it on the grid. Even if they put it, it will collapse in two days.”
The audience could feel the flowing current as Oyedele made further analysis and suggested ways to end the electricity problem in the country.
He said, “The discos are complaining of tariff issues, non-payment of electricity usage, theft. Even big men do not want to pay for electricity. We have a situation where a man has a big hotel, buy all his air conditioners; they are on the grid but not on the meter.
“There is a problem of poor generating dispatch, inability to grow the generation capacity and maintenance level is low. The problem is that because we do not produce enough electricity, investors are afraid to come and invest in the country. Our industries, our micro-industry are dead and we have a population of 3 million people doing nothing.
“The problem is compounding. We want to generate 8000mwt, but the N35000mwt when we put it on the grid, it collapses. The grid is very unreliable because if you put 35000mwt on it in two days, it collapses.
“What are the solutions? There is a need to review the privatization model. We need to cut down on areas given to the discos who cannot finance it. It is a good move NERC is waking up to review this because there is a need to sell to companies who can modernize the grid. Companies that can put a smart control system so that if a bulb goes off in your room, they will know in their Control Room.
“So, there is a need to revisit the privatization model. We need to explore other means of power generation like hydro, coal. The grid should be grown to reflect our reality. We need the grid to be efficient and commercially viable.”
It was an electromagnetic moment inside the JF Ade Ajayi Hall, as other panellists shared alternating current of ideas on the vexed issue.
The event was also witnessed by the National President of GCI Old Boys Association, Dr Bolanle Olawale Babalakin, a business magnate and Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
The session was moderated by Mr Oluseun Abimbola with school tag 4641.
Other GCI Old Boys who participated in the lecture are Bolade Soremekun (1913), Tunde Adeyemo (2257), Bayo Adenrele (5151), and Gbite Falade (5263).
The honour roll was filled with a galaxy of stars.
The Old Boys who received awards are: Dr Sunday Aribisala (137), Prof Ifedayo Oladapo (542), the late internationally celebrated Nigerian Artist, Prof Ben Enwonwu (187A), the late Dr Akinola Aguda (308), Prof Oladapo Akinkugbe (485), Prof Olufemi Osofisan (1100), and the Nobel Laureate, Prof Oluwole Soyinka (482).
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