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Former Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, has outlined a number of measures he says the government has to take immediately to arrest the epileptic electricity supply situation in the country.
Delivering the 30th, 31st and 32nd graduation lecture of the Abia State University at Uturu, Nnaji, outlined the steps to the restoration of the power purchase agreements (PPAs) between electricity firms and the Federal Government which the President Muhammadu Buhari administration suspended, the payment of the N6.8 trillion owed the power generation firms, the over N200 billion owed distribution companies, and allowing distribution companies (DisCos) to charge cost-reflective tariffs.
Other measures include building a national super grid of 765KV and decentralising its operations so that a fault in one networked plant, for instance, would not cause a national blackout, and the development of Nigeria’s 210 trillion cubic foot of natural gas since 75% of the nation’s electricity is thermal. Prof. Nnaji also a former Minister of Science and Technology who now leads the Geometric Power that drives the Aba Integrated Power Project (Aba IPP), also advocated that DisCos be encouraged to have embedded generation firms, greater official attention to DisCos which he said had been neglected more than other segments of the electricity value chain, and a review of the coverage areas by each distribution firm to make them more agile.
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Drawing examples from India, China, Brazil, Egypt, and the United States, Nnaji noted that practically “each industrialising nation adds to the stock of its quantum of electricity every year,” contrasting it with Nigeria that “has not built a new power plant in the last 12 years except the 451MW Azura-Edo Power Plant in Edo State and the 188MW Geometric Power Plant in Aba, Abia State.”
He added that investors would like to know how they could recoup their heavy and long-term investments, and the PGR is about the only realistic instrument to provide comfort to them. He challenged the notion that investors would like to sign such PRGs with state governments following the implementation of the 2023 Electricity Act that permits sub-national entities to regulate power generation, transmission, and distribution in their domains.
Among the distinguished guests at the lecture who commended Professor Nnaji for the lecture which they described as a tour de force are the Chairman of the Abia State University Governing Council, Hon. Agwu A. Agwu, the ABSU Vice Chancellor, Professor Ndukwe J. OKeudo, and the Special Adviser to Abia State Governor on Tertiary Education, Dr Emeka Enyeazu.
