Abysmal Power Supply, A Major Setback In Developing Nigerian Economy - CSGGG

Abysmal Power Supply, A Major Setback In Developing Nigerian Economy - CSGGG

By Otobong Gabriel, Abuja

The President of the Civil Society group for good governance (CSGGG), Comrade Ogakwu Dominic Ogakwu has said that the abysmal performance of the power sector in Nigeria has continued to shake the nation’s economy to its foundation with many organised private sector operators having to expend a substantial portion of their revenues on generating sets. 

Ogakwu said this on Thursday in Abuja during a round table discussion organized  by a coalition of civil society organizations to enable stakeholders especially those saddled with the responsibility to ensure that Nigerians can enjoy stable supply of electricity and to ensure that our leaders give account of their stewardship. Adding that the discussions is also targeted at provoking citizen action against epileptic power supply and issues surrounding consumers rights and obligations.

He maintained that the fate of many private  organisations is also sealed by the prohibitive cost of diesel over the years, thereby forcing many companies to shut down or relocate to neighbouring countries in spite of  an investment of over 16billion dollars by the previous administration, today, Nigeria still generate a paltry 5,000 megawatts as against our current capacity of over 11,000megawatts of electricity for millions of Nigerian consumers, and even more worrisome is our inability to equitable distribute our generated capacity while faced with a stark reality that productivity and industrialization of any nation is hinged on Power Supply. As Key Players in this sector, we are constraint to chat a way forward, offer solutions that will light up our nation, he added

"The responsibility to get things right should not just rest on the regulator or electricity distribution companies alone, but Civil Society and electricity consumers must join hands to demand and direct the trajectory for improve service delivery as constitutionally required" adding that the meeting was imperative as it  attempts to bridge the divide between the regulators, the Nigerian electricity consumers, the electricity transmission, distribution and generation companies and proffer practical solutions to our epileptic Power Supply.

Ogakwu said the theme for the round table discussion “Boosting Nigeria’s power sector performance for overall social-economic development of the nation” was carefully coined to provoke stakeholders to positive actions aimed at systematically bringing a lasting solution to the challenges in the power sector bearing in mind the associated benefits of stable electricity supply. 

Adding that the Power Sector reforms, unbundling PHCN have not yielded much results as the administrative red tapism in public procurement, depleting technical manpower due to poor succession plan, obsolete and decayed infrastructure, lack of consumers rights protection and education, perennial corruption, vandalization of critical power assets, electricity theft, non – metering and exorbitant cost have become the bane which affects electricity Supply. "These factors have made the science of stable electricity supply appear almost impossible in every region of Nigeria and like every other challenge facing our country, Nigerians are the ones who bear the brunt".

Suggesting a way forward, he said there is need for a consensus on the approach that will be both proactive and progressively suitable, considering the sector’s critical needs in driving the implementation of the various reforms aimed at arresting the challenges in the short term and long-term and get the sector stabilized for the common good of the country.