27 Jul 2004 |
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| Excuse me... excuse me, please! Yes, that’s right, it’s you I’m addressing. Yes, I know that your are a ‘whole’ Senator... in fact that is precisely the reason I’m addressing you today. Oh... I do apologise for not giving you the respect you are you are due. How would you like me to address you? Shall I call you ‘Your Honourable Legislative Excellency’? Or would ‘Your Most Worshipful Senatorialness’ be more fitting? You see, the matter I need to speak to you about is of such national importance that I will address you by whatever appellation you choose if it means that you will listen to me. No, it’s not about the 25 billion naira requirement for bank capitalisation... no, nothing to do with the state of emergency in Plateau... no, I am not after any contract! Do I look like a contractor to you? And is getting a contract a matter of national importance? No, the matter I need to speak to you about is the Power Sector Reform Bill. What... you mean you haven’t heard about this? Well, I’m sure a hardworking Senator like yourself must have been engaged in much more important matters like acquiring large, colourful polystyrene... er, I mean dealing with important matters of state. Anyway, let me give you some history. Once upon a time, back in 1972, the government of the day in its infinite wisdom passed an act setting up the Nigerian Electric Power Authority (NEPA). This corporation was charged with the responsibility of generating power, transmitting it from the source of generation and distributing it to consumers. Unfortunately, since its inception, NEPA has signally failed to live up to its promise. It’s been a catalogue of random power cuts, frequent power cuts, long power cuts and inaccurate billing, and all this has been compounded with corruption and lack of investment in NEPA’s infrastructure. (Yes, your Most August Lawmakership, don’t look so shocked - there are parts of Nigeria - over 99% of it, in fact - that don’t enjoy the regular power supply that you are accustomed to.) It has become so bad that NEPA officials are now only marginally more popular than mobile policemen. But when the current administration came to power, it promised ‘action’. Billions of naira were going to be pumped into rehabilitating NEPA’s infrastructure so that from then only being able to generate about 1,600MW of power, it would be able to generate 10,000MW which was closer to the national power demand. Well, there has been an improvement in NEPA’s power output - these days, it hovers between 2,000 and 3,000MW. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near enough. And this time, the tired old solution of asking government to spend more money won’t work. It is true that there is still a considerable amount of infrastructural development work to be done, but there simply isn’t the money to spend - the government’s coffers are not bottomless. In any event, NEPA shouldn’t even be asking the government for money. It should be collecting money for energy it has supplied, but its billing systems are a nightmare, and power theft is rampant and brazen. But NEPA doesn’t seem to have the profit motive - it doesn’t care whether it loses money or not by not collecting this revenue, since it’s a government corporation. The other thing that has been done about NEPA is to break it up into eighteen parts - six companies to handle power generation, one to handle power transmission and eleven to handle power distribution and customer billing issues. The break up has been done along regional lines. This is a good idea, because each company can then focus on business strategy according to the peculiar requirements of its own region. However, the problems I spoke of earlier with respect to a lack of profit motive are still showing up in these new companies to the extent that you can’t really notice what change has been made. So realistically, the only way things are going to change is if the private sector has some involvement in supplying power to those who need it. These companies will bring much needed money to finance infrastructural development. In addition, they have more of a motive for introducing innovative methods of dealing with billing issues and tackling power theft problems (like estate billing, moving the meter to the pole, installing security and audit devices, etc.) so that they ensure that revenue can be collected and ploughed back into providing better services for their customers. Your most Majesterial Senatorship, I’m sure that by now you are totally baffled as to why I have subjected you to this lecture about the goings-on in NEPA. I must apologise for detaining you this long, but your involvement is about to become apparent soon. Regarding what I was saying about the private sector needing to get involved, everyone realises this is the case. Even Mr. Makoju, the MD of NEPA has acknowledged that private sector involvement is required in power supply. And there are companies willing to step up to the plate. The problem is that if such companies got involved, they wouldn’t be sure what exactly they would and wouldn’t be entitled to do. Where could they lay their infrastructure? How could they go about collecting revenue? How should they resolve billing disputes? How were they expected to co-exist with NEPA? What tariffs should they charge for different sectors of the population? Understandably, they are unwilling to get involved until all these issues are clarified. Hence, the government decided that a Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) should be set up. This commission would be the final arbiter in all matters governing the operation of any company that wishes to get involved in the generation, transmission or distribution of power in Nigeria. So it would be like the NCC of the electricity world. The act required to set this up is the Power Sector Reform Bill I mentioned at the beginning of my little lecture. And this, Your Most Honourable Legislativeness, is where you come in. The expectation was that the bill would be passed and the NERC should have been up and running a long time ago so that private companies could start operating. The bill was in fact passed in early 2003, but the president sent it back to the legislature for some amendments. Since then, it has languished in limbo, despite the entreaties of various persons that it should be passed as soon as possible. I hear that it will be passed by the end of August, but we had been previously promised that it would be passed by end of June, so there is nothing to make us joyful at this latest news. Most Distinguished Superlativeness, I can’t begin to quantify the positive multiplier effects that will begin to accrue once Nigerians start enjoying the sort of access to power that we are witnessing in the telecom sector. But you know what? I am not even going to appeal to your sense of patriotism and nationalism here. I am going to appeal to that most primal of instincts, that of your self-interest. I am asking you to pass this bill because it will mean that there will be fewer hangers-on who disturb you in Abuja and fewer area boys who disturb you whenever you come down to Lagos. This is because there will now be increased alternative employment opportunities because there will be many more businesses that will be able to function effectively as a result of the improved power supply. I am asking you to pass this bill because it will mean that when you want to call your latest girlfriend you will be able to get through with ease since the telecom networks will have a much more reliable power supply to power their base stations with. I am asking you to pass this bill so that you can sleep well at night without having your generator disturbing you and polluting your environment. And you know what? I’m sure that it probably won’t take that much effort out of you to pass the bill, anyway! Sure, you need to scrutinise the bill to make sure that it is sound and offers benefits to both company and consumer, but I’m sure much of the work has already been done. So Your Most Worshipful Magnificence, please pass this bill. Doing so won’t stop you from getting contracts. Neither will it remove any of many your hard-earned titles. And when you retire to your village (which of course will be lit by electricity) and your grandchildren ask you “Grandpa, what did you do as a Senator?”, you will be able to say “I was there... no, I was actually one of those who joyfully raised my hand and shouted ‘Yes!’ when they voted to pass the Power Sector Reform Bill.”
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