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Bimbola Oyesola
The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has said that criminalising the importation and usage of generators was a crude and disingenious way to deal with a serious national issue.
Reacting to the reading of the bill for “an act to criminalise the importation, selling and usage of generators by Nigerians,” director-general of NECA, Dr. Timothy Olawale, expressed concerns at the seeming knee-jerk response to national development.
He said it was no gainsaying that the nation was faced with serious energy challenges, which predate the privatisation of the power sector. He reasoned that, while NECA agreed with the imperative to protect Nigerians from environmental pollution and associated risks, criminalising the importation amounts to insensitivity.
He said, “According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), lack of access to electricity and unreliable power supply are key constraints to doing business in Nigeria.
“The IMF estimated the annual economic loss at about $29 billion. A knee-jerk ban on the sale and use of generators without resolving the challenges in the power sector will further compound the challenges faced by businesses.”
The NECA boss noted that the power sector lacked enough infrastructural facilities to guarantee power generation and efficient distribution by the DisCos.
According to him, legislation should focus on ensuring improved infrastructure that will facilitate efficient distribution of power to the offices and homes of Nigerians, “Nigerians should not be punished for the ineffectiveness and policy inconsistencies of successive governments.
“The ban will be inimical to the quality of lives of Nigerians and national development as a whole, notwithstanding the narrow list of exceptions. Small and medium size businesses would be killed, as almost all of them use generators in the operation of their businesses.”
Olawale advised that government should focus on putting in place policies that would help in accelerating growth of the sector to make the importation and use of generators unattractive, while also promoting and encouraging the use of alternative clean energy sources.
He opined that a more strategic approach to national development would fast-track the industrialisation and development of Nigeria.
