By Fred Edoreh
There can be no argument against the fact that Nigeria is suffering electricity supply crisis, and we must understand the unease of the people, because light is life. It is just as air and water.
That is why the first thing God decreed was light, because, besides providing vision, it, together with air and water, enables photosynthesis for plants to produce food.
It is equally so for every human society. Energy powers production across all sectors, be it for petty trade or big industries. Without its sufficiency, there really cannot be development.
The unease is not peculiar to Isoko, Delta State, or any particular section of the country. We have had same calls for improved electricity supply from the North, South, East and West; from the organised private sector; and from civil society organisations.
Successive administrations of the federation have acknowledged the deficit, and have tried various strategies to tackle the problem, but we must admit that there is still a huge gap between demand and supply.
Therefore, the agitation from Isoko land is not strange. Perhaps, we can argue and disagree on the approach, temperament and expressions of the recent advocates.
I do not even agree on the predication of the agitation on the basis of being oil producing areas. I would insist that the need for electricity sufficiency is for the whole nation, to engender countrywide productivity and collective progress.
Before the unease from Isoko, the people of Ndokwa had also staged a peaceful civil protest at the Government House, Asaba, to make the same demand, and their statement of the problem was instructive.
They said many of their communities had been without electricity for over 20 years. This presupposes that they understand that the problem is not the creation nor the failure of the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the federal level, nor of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, at the state level.
The root of the energy crisis in Nigeria dates back decades long. It has all been a matter of wrong federal policies – from the earlier monopolistic clutch-hold by the Federal Government on generation, transmission and distribution, to the inefficiency of NEPA, later PHCN, as institutions, and the hitherto lethargy on allowing private participation and investments in the electricity sector.
It is just as it happened to telecommunications, before the dismantling of NITEL, which opened the door for private investments in GSM. Ditto the petroleum sector in which it defied logic to see a nation with huge deposits of oil and four refineries, importing fuel, before the granting of permits for private refineries.
Society evolves and, indeed, it was a curious policy for us to have sustained a regulation that disallowed any private generation above 10 megawatts. This disincentivised private investments, and explains why the national output kept rotating around 3,000 and 5,000 megawatts for decades, while the nation should have been at, at least, 50,000 megawatts.
In the same vein, the policy of a so called “national grid” should have long been considered obsolete, to allow off and mini grid systems, even in local governments and communitues.
But, as old as the root of the problem may be, it is not out of order for citizens to make demands on their current leadership to provide solutions on strategic infrastructural or social service deficits. After all, that is why they are in power.
So, the real question is: Does Tinubu, at the federal level, and Oborevwori, at the state level, understand this need, and are they doing anything to provide solutions? The answer is emphatic yes.
The old and unprogressive policies and regulations have been jettisoned, howbeit a bit disjointedly.
Tinubu has given effect to the full unbundling of the power sector, which now allows states to generate, transmit and distribute.
So, what has been Oborevwori’s response in Delta State? The first thing was to establish and domesticate an electricity supply and regulatory framework, to open the path for private investments and incorporation of diverse energy sources. This he has done.
He has intensified actions for short and medium term solutions, for more efficient transmission and distribution of existing capacity, while shopping for and engaging equity investors to expand the capacity.
From communities to communities, the government is reconnecting long disconnected areas, providing transformers, upgrading and expanding transmission and distribution capacities.
For increased generation, the government is investing on reviving the hitherto abandoned turbines at Oghara to add additional 120 megawatts to the Sapele Power Plant, while also negotiating to invest in the expansion of the Transcorp Power Plant in Ughelli, as well as in the expansion of the Okpai Power Plant, including its step down.
Unfortunately, man cannot decree electricity as God decreed light and the earth was immediately lit up.
Truth is that the full unbundling that now enables sub-regional governments to act distinctively took place just about two years ago, and electricity generation and transmission installations are not bought off the shelf. It takes specific constructions and configurations, even up to the delineation of the markets.
As of fact, and evidently so, Oborevwori is commitedly pursuing a strategy for comprehensive, integrated, multi-source, affordable and sustainable electricity supply system, that will cater for not only oil producing communities, or urban areas, but the entire Delta State. This is encapsulated in the Light Up Delta 24/7 Initiative of the government.
We must agree that the need for electricity cannot be over emphasised, and that it is not out of order for the people to make the demand. At same time, we should see that Oborevwori understands the need even more than the agitators, and that the Delta State Government is working very hard to meet the yearnings of the people.
It is therefore important that we all listen to ourselves, because both the government and the people desire the common good and collective progress.
So, there always is no need to break the door when the person inside is already opening it.
