Intrigues, poor budget execution scuttle FG’s power target

Intrigues and inefficient budget implementation were responsible for the Federal Government’s inability to meet its targets on power in the last one year, despite having a power roadmap developed by the presidential taskforce, analysts close to the power sector have said.

The taskforce, which is advisory in nature without executive power, came into being early last year and quickly went into action to develop a roadmap for the power sector.

The presidential taskforce comprised experts and experienced persons with executive authorities in their own right and drawn from various relevant agencies, to articulate plans contained in the roadmap.

According to the analysts, who pleaded anonymity, some targets were met and some were not, for various reasons.

“The targets set were based on anticipation that budgets would be approved and monies released; but this could not be achieved as budgets were slashed by more than 40 percent and only about 50 percent of the slashed value was actually released,” one of the analysts revealed.

Because of this, the analyst said, letters of credit could not be opened, and since manufacturers do not execute orders without letters of credits, the equipment needed for the implementation of the items on the roadmap failed. “And unfortunately, more than 90 percent of components of the power delivery system are imported,” the analyst added.

It was also learnt that the various interest groups that made up the presidential taskforce worked at cross purposes.

“The ministry of Power was, at best, working at cross purposes with the presidential taskforce and this was very evident. The successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) dwelt on this dichotomy of sorts and executed whatever projects they felt like, regardless of the roadmap’s targets,” another analyst disclosed.

President Goodluck Jonathan had stated that he would improve electricity supply to Nigerian homes and businesses within a short timeframe: “Within 3 to 6 months: Fast-track improvement and predictability in electricity availability to Nigerian homes and businesses.”

The president also stated that within 3 to 12 months, he would take irreversible steps to promote medium to long term sustainable growth of the Nigerian electricity supply industry.

One significant agenda the government is committed to attaining in the first quarter of this year is the privatisation of the 11 distribution and six generation assets. The government failed to achieve this and the privatisation of these key assets has now been delayed by one whole year.

It was hoped that getting the state-held assets into private ownership and management will spur massive private investment and job creation capable of producing the same flourish the nation’s telecom sector has witnessed since the entry of private enterprises to the sector more than 10 years ago.

While the Power Sector Reform Roadmap targets total power generation of 7,033 megawatts of electricity by April 2011, actual power generation as of weekend, was a dismal 3,200 megawatts.

This is still a far cry from the 5,755 megawatts government technocrats said would be the realistic delivery target by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Accessible data showed that instead of a steady increase in power generation levels, there has been a worsening of the situation largely by the failure of required gas supply, low water level at the hydro power plants and the delay in the rehabilitation of key but ageing thermal power plants in different locations around the country.

According to the roadmap, the transmission and distribution networks should have been reinforced by about 30 percent as of April this year. This target has also not been achieved, and curiously, for a government which puts power at the top of its agenda, questions are now being raised as to why there has been a huge gap in the funds disbursed by the government and the amount needed to get the job done.

Under the power roadmap, the government set for itself the short-term twin objectives of rehabilitating 1,000 megawatts of generating capacity at existing PHCN power stations, and adding 1, 266 megawatts of generating capacity from the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).

Data now shows that the government again failed to achieve this objective, while actual power generation during the period fluctuated between 3,000 and 3,200megawatts.

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