News

Poor Power Supply: FG To Unbundle 11 Discos, Orders Sale Of Four

Published

2 weeks ago

April 23, 2024

Power distribution companies in Nigeria are currently being unbundled along state lines due to their large sizes which often result in inefficiency and ineffectiveness, the Federal Government declared on Monday.

It stated that the privatisation of the firms would not be reversed, but stressed that the Discos would be broken into more efficient structures along state lines so as to be able to deliver on their mandates.

This came as the Federal Government also ordered the sale of Discos that have been taken over by banks and the Assets Management Corporation from its original investors/owners.

Currently, four Discos are under the management of banks and AMCON.

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company is under the management of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), while Fidelity Bank manages Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, and Kano Electricity Distribution Company.

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company is under the AMCON management.

The four Discos are under these new managements due to their inability to repay their loans to the financial institutions.

The government stated that those who acquired the Discos when the firms were officially privatised in November 2013, lacked the required expertise and financial capacity to run the companies.

This came as the Senate Committee on Power lambasted the Discos for being so inefficient since they took over the privatised assets over 10 years ago, and called for the overhaul of the power firms.

In his address, while playing host to the Senate Committee on Power, led by their Chairman, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, stated that the Federal Government had commenced the restructuring of Nigeria’s 11 power distribution companies.

He also revealed that over 100 projects of the Transmission Company of Nigeria have not been completed since 2001, a period of about 23 years.

Adelabu said, “We are unbundling the Discos along state lines. Some of the Discos are too big for efficiency. They are too big for effectiveness. Ibadan Disco covers seven states. It is practically impossible for them to be efficient.

“So we are rearranging and restructuring the Discos along state lines so that each state government will know the responsible Disco for their states. Also, the federal and state governments should start exercising their rights in the operation and management of the Discos because we still own 40 per cent in the firms.

“But we have left it for the private sector operators for too long and they have messed it up. So the government must come back to take over its own right in the Discos. We are also planning to franchise the unserved communities under the Discos.”

The minister went ahead to state that “we will start seeing regulations about franchising. The fact you are Eko Disco doesn’t mean that you cannot have smaller Discos that are ready to invest in your unserved communities. So we are looking at franchising.”

Adelabu further revealed that the Oyo State Government had written to the Federal Government stating that it wants to exercise its rights in Ibadan Disco.

He said the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has been made to realise that it must sanction Discos that fail to perform, as the licences of some of the power firms might be withdrawn for non-performance.

“We are transforming the Discos and very soon you’ll see that a lot of tough decisions will be taken against these Discos because they are the last mile in the sector. If they don’t perform then the entire sector is not performing.

“So we have put pressure on NERC to make sure that it raises the bar on the activities of the Discos. If it has to withdraw licences for non-performance, why not? If it has to change the boards and managements, why not?

“And all the Discos that are still under AMCON (Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria) and some lenders (banks), within the next three months they must be sold to a technical power operator with a good reputation in utility management.

“We can no longer afford AMCON to run our Discos. We can no longer afford the banks to run our Discos. This is a technical industry and it must be run by technical experts,” the power minister stated.

Also commenting on the non-performance of Discos, a member of the committee, Senator Danjuma Goje said, “The Discos have not added anything significant to the power sector, but are just going about collecting money.

“The Discos are complete failures and should be overhauled. They have failed to live up to expectations and we have so many complaints about their poor performances.”

The Senate committee also authorised an investigative hearing on the electricity tariff hike and stated that this would be held on April 29, 2024, at the Senate.

Privatisation problems

The power minister told his guests that those who acquired the Discos when they were privatised, lacked the required expertise and financial capacity.

Adelabu said, “Our problem started from the privatisation era. Not that the privatisation has a problem in itself, but its implementation and execution have robbed the process of its laudable objectives.

“We believe that people who bought the power companies do not have the required expertise to run the utility firms. Secondly, they were not buoyant enough in terms of financial buoyancy to pay for the power plants.

“All of them used bank loans to pay for the assets. And we all know that the power business is a long-term business. It is not something you recoup your capital and make profit in a short time. So they were all under pressure to repay the bank loans that they used to acquire the power companies.

“This is why today a number of them have been taken over by their lenders, either AMCON or the banks, both local and international banks. They also promised to invest and enhance the distribution network, but they did not do this.”

The minister stated that the investors had promised to reduce the losses in the Discos, but stressed that up till now the losses had remained at about 40 per cent across the power value chain.

“So the Discos are not investing as expected,” Adelabu stated.

100 uncompleted projects

The minister told the lawmakers that over 100 power transmission projects have not been completed since 2001.

“Since 2001 till date we have over 100 uncompleted projects of the Transmission Company of Nigeria. So when we say the government has spent so much in the sector, it is true. But all the spendings have not translated to good impact on power users.

“This is because majority of these projects have not been completed, though some of them are 80 or 90 per cent completed. We have over 65 projects on power substations that are still ongoing since 2001, which is 23 years ago.

“We have about 62 lines projects across the country that were started and have not been completed. And these are being affected by exchange rate calculations, inflation, variations, etc. One thing about power projects is that if they are not completed 100 per cent, you cannot energize them,” Adelabu stated.

He said all the investments are just there lying in waste, “but we are saying that this year we must ensure that a significant number of these projects are completed so that Nigerians can enjoy the investments in the transmission company.”

On the metering gap in the power sector, the minister stated that a company received $200m in 2003 to provide three million meters but failed to do so.

“In 2003, the metering gap was less than four million meters and the Federal Government gave out $200m to a particular company to acquire three million smart meters for the industry. It was a revolving loan.

“But it is sad to let you know that this is 21 years after, no single meter was acquired by this company and the $200m which was N32bn at the time, nothing was got from the money until Mr President just gave us the approval to terminate this loan.

“He also asked us to implement the metering of the Nigerian Army formations to the tune of N12bn. You can imagine if we had acquire three million meters 21 years ago. Today the metering gap that we have is over eight million out of over 12 million customers of the power sector,” the minister stated.

Adelabu, however, noted that the Federal Government was working hard to close the metering gap.

“Mr President has come to our aid on this by forming a Presidential Metering Council, which I’m the Chairman, and he has given us a mandate that a minimum of two million meters should acquired and distributed to Nigerians every year.

“This is going to continue till the next four to five years, so that the current eight million metering gap that we have will be closed over the next four to five years.

“The funding for this project is being sourced. We have been given a seed capital of N75bn and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority is coming to our aid in terms of capital for this,” Aselabu stated.

The minister also stated that the target of the Federal Government is to achieve 6,000MW of power before the end of this year, adding that this has been submitted to the President.

He called for the payment of the outstanding debts to gas companies and power generation firms.

He said the government is currently talking with two investors that should invest in the construction of 3,000MW of solar-power projects in various states to support the national grid.

The minister pointed out that Nigeria currently has an installed power generation capacity of about 14,000 megawatts.

He said, “Today we have a total of 13,250MW installed capacity in all the generating units, including hydro plants and thermal plants. If we add the 700MW coming from the recently Zungeru plant we will have close to 14,000MW installed capacity.

“But it is sad to let you know that the highest we have ever generated in this sector is 5,800MW out of an installed capacity of over 13,000MW, which is less than 50 per cent. The infrastructures are there lying fallow without adequate maintenance and the turbines are getting rusty.

“Two things are responsible, which include the inadequate transmission capacity to evacuate this power even when it is generated. The second thing is the inadequate demand coming from the Discos because they are not getting full payments from the consumers when they distribute power to them.”

Adelabu said the 5,800MW was generated in March 2021, which was over three years ago.

“But we believe that with good investments and demand for power, we can increase power generation to over 8,000MW once there is adequate infrastructure,” he stated.

PUNCH

Related Topics:Electricity tariff national grid

Up Next

See Photos Inside The Most Expensive School In Nigeria

Don't Miss

JUST IN: Court Orders EFCC To Serve Yahaya Bello N80bn Fraud Charges Through His Lawyer

Comments

News

Obaseki Swears In Five New Judges

Published

2 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Editor

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has sworn-in five judges to the bench of the Edo State High Court, urging them to do right to all cases brought before them.

Addressing the judges at the swearing-in held in Government House, Benin City, the governor said when complaints or petitions are received, it is important to take a step back and re-examine the petitions critically to make informed decisions.

“It is with delight that today I am swearing-in five additional judges to the bench of the Edo State High Court. When I came into office in 2016, one of the commitments we made was to strengthen the judiciary. This is because of its role in the democratic process. As a government, we are going to ensure that we support the judiciary.

“Let me start with the latest reforms which is, for me, assenting to the law providing for the autonomy of the judiciary. I believe that we are one of the few states in Nigeria today that have signed the bill of the autonomy of the judiciary into law.

“It is going through a learning curve but because we believe in the independence of the judiciary; we have demonstrated our commitment to wholistic reforms by enacting that law. We would work with the Chief Judge and members of the judiciary to continue fine-tuning the way and manner in which the laws are applied.

“You are all witness to the infrastructural upgrade which we have begun in the judiciary. From providing court rooms especially in Benin City to more accommodation for Judges. In the development plan we are currently designing, we have enshrined and have ensured that within the five years of implementing the new Edo State Master Plan, that the infrastructural development for the judiciary would be completed.

“In line with the other reforms which we are undertaking in the State, we are encouraging the judicial arm of government to take advantage of the digital infrastructure that the State is currently investing in as we have built over 2,000 km fiber optic connection across the State. We now have digital infrastructure in every area where we have a High Court. Please take advantage of the investment made.

“I thank the Chief Judge for the support he has continued to extend to the executive. I know that the swearing-in of judges that we are experiencing today have raised quite a few issues. As part of our intention to reform the entire arm of government in Edo State, when we get complaints or petitions that some of our choices will not go well to strengthen the judiciary, I believe it is important to take a step back and re-examine the petitions critically. This is what has happened in this case.

“We are currently waiting on the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to let us know the outcome of its decision on the other judges we have received petitions for and we will comply with the decision of NJC.

“We congratulate the judges being sworn in today. They are lucky as they are likely to spend more time in the service because of the extension in the retirement age. We wish you well and hope you will always do right to all cases brought before you.

Speaking on behalf of the new Judges, Osayende Ikwuemosi Awawu, said, “We are going to do our jobs and perform our duties to the best of our ability.”

News

Conservative Christians Knock Popular Nigerian Pastor Over Comment On Porn Addiction Remedy

Published

3 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Editor

Popular Nigerian pastor and founder of Abel Damina Ministries International, Dr Abel Damina, has been knocked for his comment on the remedy to porn addiction.

Damina gave his submission while speaking on Comfort FM’s Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT) programme in Uyo in late February.

The clip of the sermon made the rounds on Thursday where the pastor was asked how a person addicted to pornography could stop and get rid of it totally.

He advised such persons not to struggle to stop but should keep watching while listening to the word of God at the same time.

“Don’t struggle to stop watching the porn. Don’t struggle at all. Just keep watching the porn. As you are watching the porn, spend more time hearing the ‘word’. If you watch porn for one hour, spend three to four hours hearing the word of God.

“Take not. Go get all my teachings on Christ. Just keep learning and learning. After a while, you will find out that your appetite for porn is dying and the appetite for the word of God is growing. Before you know it, when you see porn, you will be irritated.

“Word of God will kill that appetite completely and give you a healthy appetite. That’s what to do. Don’t try to stop. In fact, keep watching, but spend more time studying God’s word, and you will find out that before you know it, your desire for porn would be gone,” the pastor stated.

However, this submission has been greeted by dissension, especially from conservative Christians on social media who believed that the pastor was encouraging people, mostly addicts, to sin.

A prominent pastor, Gideon Odoma of the Fortress Ministry countered Damina’s submission while labelling pornography as a perversion.

“Christains have trivialise sexcapades. The things God call iniquities, we must never call it flexing,” he said.

The pastor who had previously slammed Damina and Apostle Suleman for supporting the Old Testament over the New Testament remarked that both of them have wrong teaching and their objective is to derail the Christians.

“The Damina and Suleman terms are wrong. It as if their only objective in life is to derail believers so they have a lot of time on their hands and they find different creative ways to say the same useless things — Your sin does not matter — they find all sorts of ways to discredit as it were,” he said.

Another prominent pastor, Chris Oyakhilome, while quoting Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 15, submitted that pornography is a sin that should be avoided completely.

He emphasised that God recognised nakedness as a feeling of shame because pornography is synonymous with prostitution as it draws from Greek’s linguistic corpus —pony—meaning prostitute.

“The indication is that once nakedness is being made public, it is a shame when you’re not a child. As far as God is concerned, that is a shame.

“It started from Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple. Their eyes were open and they found that they were naked and then covered themselves with leaves and hid from God. Christians desist from it. Those who believe in Jesus should not do it,” he stressed.

Aside from Oyakhilome and Odoma, some other Christians are lending their voice to fault Damina’s sermon.

One Rachael, who tweeted with the handle, @ab_seyi wrote, “I am fighting tears. Lord help this man, help his followers, help him not to die like this. This is sad.”

Sandra Okafor with the handle, @okaforsandra20 said, “Even the Bible said ‘flee from every appearance of evil’. You can’t want to stop doing something and still be doing it, expecting a miracle to happen because you’re reading the word of God. As one of the cessation steps for smokers, they’re advised to throw away and move away from their triggers; be it the cigarette boxes, lighters, smoking partners, and smoking environment because you gradually become what you’re constantly exposed to. So this advice is biblically and also morally wrong.

“You’re supposed to throw away all triggers that make you want to watch porn and as you do your part, you ask the Holy Spirit to empower you and deliver you from its grip. It’s normal to stumble but thank God for the mercies of God that bring us back to Him.”

Nonetheless, while endorsing the contentious claim, Pastor Oge, the lead pastor of Cicle Church said he struggled with poor addiction in the early stage of his life and despite seeing a therapist to stop the act, it continued.

“Dr Damina’s Porn Remedy; I struggled with porn addiction in the early stages of my life and I can tell you categorically, the struggle doesn’t help.

“Saying ‘I won’t watch Porn again’, will not stop you! That’s why it’s called an addiction! I saw a therapist and the therapist said to replace the desire to watch porn with something else… Help my brain associate the porn triggers with something else,” he wrote on his X handle.

Oge further justified Damina’s sermon saying it was the biblical way of dealing with the addiction but that the pastor didn’t convey it well.

“What Dr Damina said is the Bible’s way to deal with addictions. He just didn’t say it well.”

A Facebook user with name, Restoration Arena also said, “I think the point he is trying to make is, a believer should not struggle with sin. Instead the believer should replace struggle with living the Word and walk in the Spirit. While that is done, sin appetite will die.”

“There is nothing wrong with what he said. All these people of little understanding, why judging him?” another user, Evangelist Precious said.

Chastising them for aligning with the proposition, one Wisdom Chiezugo with the handle, @Wchiezugo stated, “You guys are defending him because it’s what you want to hear. That’s not how God works. Read the scriptures for yourselves.

“Maybe when you bring one scripture that supports you to keep sinning and be reading the word together then I’ll engage you. In the meantime, Keep watching the porn.”

Damina is the CEO of Kingdom Life Network (KLN) – a Christian satellite TV channel.

He is also the Senior Pastor of Power City International headquartered in Uyo, Nigeria with extension campuses across the world.

He hosts the TV programme, Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT) on KLN as well as on other television and radio stations.

News

Kenneth Imansuangbon: A Symbol of Hope In Education And Social Equality

Published

4 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Editor

As Barr. Kenneth Imansuangbon celebrates his 58th birthday, his life stands as a beacon of hope and inspiration, resonating with service, dedication, and compassion.

A multifaceted figure, Imansuangbon’s roles as a legal luminary, school proprietor, and philanthropist exemplify his unwavering commitment to fostering goodwill, equity, and progress for all.

Imansuangbon’s dedication to quality education serves as a cornerstone of his illustrious career. Through the Pace Setters Group of Schools, he has cultivated an environment where education transcends mere academics, empowering students with the skills and values to shape a brighter future.

His leadership at the institution underscores the fusion of education and culture, setting a standard for academic excellence and societal development.

Beyond educational boundaries, Imansuangbon’s philanthropic endeavors reflect his steadfast commitment to uplifting communities, particularly the vulnerable. Known affectionately as the “Rice Man,” his annual rice distribution to the less privileged symbolizes practical assistance and support for those in need.

His philanthropy extends beyond food donations, encompassing contributions to institutions such as the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, showcasing a holistic approach to community upliftment.

Imansuangbon’s advocacy for justice and progress echoes throughout his initiatives, particularly in his support for youth empowerment. Through initiatives like the Essay Competition, he champions the cause of Edo youths, paving the way for their success and future leadership roles within the state and beyond.

As a gubernatorial aspirant for Edo State under the Labour Party, Imansuangbon’s vision for state development is grounded in his extensive experience, philanthropic ethos, and unwavering commitment to the common good. He envisions a future where Edo State maximizes its resources and strategic advantages to foster wealth creation and eradicate poverty, guided by innovative and focused leadership.

On this significant occasion, it is imperative to recognize and salute Barr. Kenneth Imansuangbon for his tireless advocacy in championing education, promoting social justice, and advocating for a society where equity and progress prevail.

His journey serves as a source of inspiration, motivating us to emulate his compassion, dedication, and unwavering commitment to serving humanity.

Happy 58th birthday, Barr. Kenneth Imansuangbon! Your legacy of compassion, leadership, and service will continue to inspire and resonate with generations to come, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of all Nigerians.

Patrick Ese, writes from Benin