Perennial Outages, Blackout Make Living Unbearable
• Nigeria Has 0.0225 Kilowatts Of Electricity Daily Available To Every Citizen • Blackout Plunges Consumers, Small Businesses Into Losses
INmany parts of the country, electricity consumers are united in their submissions that as far as delivering on its promise of improved power supply is concerned, they have been left in the lurch by the Federal Government.
In their bewilderment, they insist that if there was any marginal improvement in electricity supply recorded since the current President Muhammadu Buhari-led government mounted the saddle, such has been swiftly eroded with only days remaining for the administration to succeed itself in office for a second term.
Categorically speaking, the last two, three weeks rank as a new low, as the collapse of the national grid twice in 18 hours penultimate week plunged the country into darkness. Till now, Nigerians have continued to grope in the dark.
The national electricity grid collapse, which happened at about 5:30am, on Thursday May 9, was preceded by another on Wednesday afternoon.
While the collapse lasted, the entire franchise of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), which comprises Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi states and Abuja had zero megawatts, in other words, no electricity supply.
That collapse also affected Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Kano states, all of which are serviced by the Kaduna Electric Distribution Company and Kano Electric Distribution Company.
Consumers of electricity in Adamawa, Borno, Taraba and Yobe states were also thrown into darkness following the loss of supply from the national grid with zero allocation to the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC). This was equally occasioned by the collapse of the national grid.
“We are currently experiencing loss of supply from the national grid with zero allocation to YEDC coverage area,” the firm explained to consumers, adding that the power outage was beyond its control.
DATA from the Nigeria Electricity System Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), showed that power generation has dropped by 1, 682 megawatts from 4,129.2MW. As at 6.00 am last Monday, the data showed that generation stood at 2, 441MW.
Speaking in the wake of the latest collapse, which has worsened electricity supply in many parts of the country, the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Usman Mohammed, described it as the worst system collapse in recent times.
The national grid has continued to suffer series of system
collapse over the years as the country continues to flounder in the absence of a spinning reserve, which if in place would forestall such occurrences.
Usman, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja penultimate Friday said, “What happened a day before yesterday at 14:32 hours was a case of system collapse. We had tripping. “The reason for the grid collapse was that there was multiple tripping around Onitsha substation. We are also suspecting that one of the generators went out. We have sent our team of engineers to go and investigate, we normally investigate this kind of disturbances,’’ he said.
Usman claimed that in spite of the fragile nature of the nation’s power grid, TCN has achieved some level of stability on the national grid.
“Although, we have achieved some level of stability on the grid through the massive investment that we have done in the last two years, it does not mean that our grid has become disturbance free, because our grid is still very fragile. It is a journey that we are in that will take us to have a modern and stabilised grid,” he said.
MAnyare deeply worried that the worsening power situation is coming at a time when heat wave continues to soar sometimes to over 43 degrees Celsius, thus making life very uncomfortable for Nigerians, while a lot of smallscale businesses are heavily impacted by the attendant power outages.
Clearly, the reality on ground is not in sync with, neither does it support claims by the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), who recently alleged that he has delivered on the promises he made to Nigerians in the areas of power, works and housing.
While briefing the press in his office, in Abuja, Fashola said feedback from the public indicates that the public is enjoying a better deal compared to what was the case in 2015. Consequently, he concluded that he has fulfilled his promise of incremental power, better journey experience on the roads, affordable housing, as well as economic opportunities for Nigerians.
“In the power sector, well-meaning Nigerians acknowledge our efforts by saying clearly that their power supply experience has improved compared to 2015, and we acknowledge that the work has not finished.
“The task going forward is to solve the outstanding issues of estimated billing, supply of meters, add more power and make the supply steady, which I stated will be our mediumterm goal,” Fashola stated.
WHILE Nigeria is faced with low access to electricity, as well as low consumption, low reliability, high per kilowatt cost and utilities running at a loss averaging 4, 500megawatt (4,500,000kilowatts) of electricity distributed,
only about 0.0225 kilowatts of electricity is currently available to every Nigerian.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), around 625 million people in Sub-saharan Africa have no access to electricity. Nigeria is not listed as one of the top 10 in many rankings that focus on access to electricity on the continent.
In fact, a global research company, CEIC Data noted that Nigeria’s average electricity consumption per hour data stood at 2, 490.000 MWH in December 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 3, 098. 000 MWH for September 2018.
The country’s electricity consumption average per hour data, which is updated quarterly, averages 2, 688. 780 MWH from March 2005 to December 2018, with 54 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4, 456. 000 MWH in September 2015 and a record low of 1, 300. 000
Also, an international organisation, Power for All, which is campaigning for the provision of electricity in many
African countries recently said that over 93 million Nigerians still lack access to electricity. Countries like South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and others have better percentage energy access across board when compared to Nigeria. To most stakeholders, the significant gap between demand and supply of electricity in the country has led to recurrent power shortcuts as the challenges were complicated by heavy reliance on gas, limited technical/technological know-how, lack of energy efficient practices and infrastructure maintenance, inadequate regulations and attacks on energy infrastructure, all of which contribute to challenges that the sector faces.
Speaking on worsening power situation as well as the dwindling access to power, Country Director of Power for All and Managing Director of Clean Technology, Mrs.
Ifeoma Malu said: “Nigeria’s energy access challenge has continued to be a source of frustration for majority of the population, limiting the country’s prospects for economic growth, and improvement in the well-being of its population, particularly underserved rural communities.
“Over 60 per cent of Nigerians are without access to electricity, while the grid-connected population faces extensive power outages. Bedeviled by various technical, financial, operational and regulatory challenges and a widening generation gap of approximately 175, 000MW, the conventional power grid supply is inadequate to meet the needs of Nigeria’s growing population.”
The country’s national transmission grid, which has a record of persistent breakdown currently has an installed capacity of around 5, 758 MW, but its effective wheeling capacity stands at about 4, 500 MW.
Managed by the TCN, the transmission network reportedly has a total length of 12, 300 km (330 kv 5,650 km, 132 kv 6.687 km) and connects 32, 330 kv and 105 132 kv sub-stations.
The distribution network has a length of 224,838 km (taking into consideration 33KV, 11KV and LV lines overhead and cables. As part of the power sector reform, the network was split into 11 distribution zones, each of them now owned and managed by a different electricity distribution company (Disco) with the exception of the KEDC, whose privatisation process is still ongoing.
The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company is the one with the longest grid (36, 585 km), while the Kano Electricity Distribution Company is the one with the shortest (7, 404 km), and also the highest losses (40 per cent).
The Ibadan network is the one with the highest capacity (878 MW) and highest number of customers (812,000 customers), while the Ikeja network is the one with the highest peak demand (1,400 MW) due to the high concentration of economic activities in Lagos State.
With industries closing down daily and harsh operating environment that continues to push many small-scale businesses out of operation, the country’s growing population could continue to feel the impact of the failing power sector. With other critical challenges like mounting debts; closure of automotive industries and others have been cited as evidence of the effect of de-industrialisation caused by unstable power supply and network, there is surely an urgency to go beyond rhetoric.
The Council for Renewable Energy of Nigeria (CREN) had estimated that power outage was responsible for an annual loss of about N126b.
Evidently, the energy poverty in the country poses an endemic and crippling problem. With the development access to safer and healthier electric cooking and heating, powered health centers and refrigerated medicines, light to study at night, or electricity to run a business remained challenging.
A Sin the past, the recent total blackout experienced in many states has dealt a deadly blow on households and small businesses.
For instance, for over five days, Lagos State residents serviced by the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) were without light.
Consequently, throughout the Easter holiday, households and business owners in Abule-egba, Ekoro, Agbele, Captain, Command, Meiran, Abule Taylor, Kollington, Agbado Station, Ile-epo, pleasure, Super, Oke-abiye and others all relied solely on power generating sets for electricity supply.
Areas like Mushin, Isolo, Daleko, Surulere, Oshodi, Ladipo, Palm Avenue, Ilasamaja, Idi-araba also serviced by EKEDC equally had a raw deal.
The situation in areas under the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) was reasonably harsh as some consumers were left without supply for over 10 days. Areas like Ifo, Arigbajo, Ejio, Itori, Papalanto, Ajegunle,
Owode, Sango-ota, Wasinmi, Abese, Coker, Ibogun, Ewekoro, Ilepa, Iyana-ilogbo, and others, all in Ogun State, were forced to adapt to the unpalatable situation that they found themselves.
While Ifo and some areas got their electricity supply restored after 10 days, areas like Arigbajo, Abese and beyond were still in darkness for well over 10 days.
Some small business owners, including frozen food sellers, incurred debts, or had their gains eroded for these periods despite resorting to the use of power generating sets.
One of such frozen food dealers in Ekoro, popularly known as Mama Chris lamented that she stocked her freezers anticipating a boom during the Easter period, only for the stock to get spoilt as a result of insufficient electricity supply. In Arigbajo, Ewekoro Local Council of Ogun State, a middleaged woman, Mrs. Akanke Ibironke, who supplies water in the area told The Guardian that she had to resort to pumping water with her power generating set when the situation persisted for many days.
“Pumping water with fuel is not profitable, but I was forced to do that in order to sustain the business. Obviously, I ran at a loss. That is the situation that we have found ourselves in this country.”
A fashion designer, Odunlami Sunday, who did not see the wisdom in spending money on petrol abandoned his shop and deployed his motorbike for commercial purposes. “During festive seasons, I know what I usually make from designing for my customers. But sensing that the electricity situation may not improve all through the period, I decided not to accept fabrics from my customers because I knew that I would not meet up with their demands on time.
“So, I decided to use my motorcycle to convey passengers during the period. Of course, it paid me better. But the unfortunate thing is that officials of the Disco would soon move out with their ladders to demand for bills, irrespective of the losses we have incurred during the period. It’s unfortunate that our government is silent about all these, and we need to do something quickly before it is too late. Enough is enough.”
Also commenting on the power situation in his area, a legal practitioner Arinze Odiari, who resides in the Surulere area of Lagos State said: “I can tell you that the power situation in my area, as well as the state is currently bad. Some months ago, we used to have about 12 hours of electricity supply, but at the moment, I am sure it’s not more than six hours in a 24-hour cycle.
“My office is at Awolowo Road, Ikoyi and there is no difference in the power supplied there as both areas are being serviced by EKEDC. Unfortunately, we have no option than to continue paying heavy service charge as the complex, which my office is located provides power to its tenants,” the legal practitioner said.
He continued; “While I am not a medical doctor or an environmentalist, strictly speaking, I can tell you that the health hazard posed by the massive use of power generating sets in my neighbourhood is immense. The fume and noise from these generating sets combined with the recent heat wave expose all of us to poor health. I am not able to work at home at night, which I used to do before now because the noise pollution from different types of generating sets does not constitute good orchestra. I require tranquility to enable me achieve a lot mentally. When this is missing, I may not be at my optimal best, therefore my productivity is reduced. I am sure this happens to a lot of people also.”
Odiari called on the Federal Government to end the excuses and tackle headlong, the issue of poor electricity supply in the country.
“We have had excuses from one government to another and if am really honest, Nigerians right now will be happy to get this handled irrespective of the cost because they are already paying so high for what is not available. I expect this government, having received the peoples mandate for the next four years to do all it can to fix this problem. The generating, transmitting and distributing agencies and companies should be made to now get down to work and any of them that is incapable should be removed or licence revoked.”
For a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Lagos, Debo Ayobade, the power situation in Akoka-yaba is as bad as in other parts of the country.
“I power my generator all-day, all-night when I am around. It gets so bad that sometimes there might not be up to two hours of power supply in two days. In the last four weeks, the situation has not changed and I understand that this is happening in most parts of the country. It is so sad that we