Law Paradigms...

Every Nigerian government administration has always declared to have the best interests for the Nigerian people, most involving plans and mandates on revamping the failed power sector. The present administration has not broken protocol- once again singing tunes of salvation that will take us to the promised land of light. Most Nigerians, in a bid to guard against heartbreak, have listened halfheartedly while awarding contracts for Mikano generators…others come up with conspiracy theories to suit specific purposes and idiosyncrasies….some have resorted to plain indifference….anything to avoid being sucked into the vortex of political propaganda.

But what indeed seems to be the focus of this Fourth Republic? Baba proclaimed he was anti-corruption and thus the establishment of the EFCC, ICPC and others that have also added to our national fracas. The Yar’adua administration never came to a head, it went from appeals and then watered down into a zonal power play based on a “gentleman’s agreement” to rotate leadership. Now enter the fresh air regime of our incumbent GEJ administration which has us harping on power supply 24/7; unfortunately, the current insecure state of the nation has once again gotten us distracted form key issues.

In the light of history all over the world, political propaganda has always been just that…propaganda. What the government says and actually does are two entirely different things. In research for writing this, I fumbled around for information, a lead, the link we are all missing, the eureka! of sudden understanding…anything at all that would give me insight into the national power sector issue. Unfortunately, I saw nothing but the regular stuff – people complaining, fasting and praying, raising all sorts of prayer points against both spiritual and physical darkness; having no true connection or understanding of what the government was or is supposedly doing to save us from the peril of darkness. 

It is therefore imperatively safe to say that I didn’t find anything new but I studied something old. I went into the fine print; Acts and Bills passed since the inception of this republic in 1999. If our politicians couldn’t be clear-cut, a trend in our legislators may prove to be a lead, right? So a couple of days, downloading bills from the www.nassnig.org  left me much wiser; 601 bills passed  in the Senate and according to my perusal, only 7 on power-related issues in the last 12 years.

1. SB_425: BIOFUELS ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION BILL 2010
2. SB_400: A BILL TO PROHIBIT THE IMPORT, SALE, DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS IN NIGERIA TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF COMPACT FLOURESCENT BULBS AND FOR OTHER CONNECTED PURPOSES.
3. SB_311: AN ACT TO AMEND THE ECN ACT TO GRANT PRIORITY TO THE PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS RELATING THERETO, ACT 1979
4. SB_161: BILL TO AMEND THE ECN ACT NO. 162, 1979, TO PROVIDE FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF SOLAR ENERGY DEVELOPMENT ANDUTILIZATION FUND AND OTHER RELATED MATTERS.
5. SB_147: ELECTRIC POWER SECTOR REFORM BILL, 2001.
6. SB_295: ACT TO AMEND THE ELECTRIC POWER SECTOR REFORM, 2005.
7. SB_03: ACT TO ESTABLISH THE HYDROELECTRIC POWER PRODUCING AREAS COMMISSION AND TO VEST IT WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MANAGING THE ECONOMIC MENACE DUE TO THE OPERATION OF DAMS AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.

Of these, two have been passed into law:

1. Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005, 2008.
2. Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (Establishment) Act, 2010

With my limited time and somewhat startling discovery, I did not venture into the 1024 bills passed in the lower house (or maybe it was laziness? But somehow I didn’t think they would fare better). Although it seemed bleak, further inspection of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of the 2005 shows its all-encompassing nature and the blueprint for all the movement in the power sector currently; the unbundling of NEPA into PHCN and all the consequent steps into the privatization of the industry. So in the defense of the government, it is the execution of this act that will bring transformation to the power sector.  Progress has been made considering the given the framework, and in relatively good time (insert link). But considering the current probe of the BPE and some of its failures, caution must be taken on this path; still the government must be lauded for its vision in this direction.

What gives a cause for worry is the fact that while various bills are passed concerning traditional rulers and pilgrimage (vital issues to the country’s economy I’m sure) the legislators have not been bombarding the house on issues relating to the key to our industrialization; power. Hopefully, it is not due to a lack of ideas, every Nigerian seems to know the answer to all the nations and indeed the world’s problems (or perhaps it’s only on the issues of football?)

Still, in analyzing the aforementioned bills, apart from the two passed into law (the EPSR Act and the ); we see that SB_161 & SB_311 are both on the amendment of the Energy Commission of Nigeria 1979 to place priority on renewable energy. Unfortunately, in consonance with the current Power Road Map drawn out by the GEJ administration renewable energies, apart from hydro, are not a major tool to be used in revamping our power industry due to their long lead times. This in turn crosses out the immediate or short term efficacy of the SB_425 (which is a bill to institute a Biofuels Energy Regulatory Commission) as we are not planning to invest biofuel use in the near future. On to SB_400- a bill to basically eliminate the use of the incandescent bulb which is less efficient than its fluorescent counterparts- I am ambivalent towards this. With a vast majority of our populace living under a dollar a day, how many will truly be able to afford CFL and LED lighting? But still in the defense of this bill, Nigeria must take exponential steps to catch up with the rest of the world; Australia phased out incandescent lighting in 2009 and the US plans to phase it out within the decade…But I still ask, do we fix the tires of a car we haven’t bought yet? (that’s a proverb there for my great granddaughter! )

Finally we consider the SB_03 to establish a Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Commission. Now, this is a bill I believe should have made it through the Senate and become an act; the downstream impacts of dams, the derogatory health effects and relocation of indigenous communities are valid arguments that should be given a voice in this country. not only should we solve our power problem but we must also be socially responsible for what comes along with change. So why was this bill not passed into law?

Many fine ideas have passed through the minds of the average Nigerian only to be shot down in derision immediately. It seems Nigerians have perfected the art of pessimism and not necessarily problem-solving; everyone with eagles eye vision on what the problem is and not necessarily the solution. But amidst so many comments I have been able to filter out some resounding arguments…..Amara Nwankpa, one of the founders of the Light Up Nigeria Initiative has suggested breaking down the national grid into several minigrids in order to cut out the menace of actually fixing the entire grid, which is too big and to convoluted for one government to fix. He believes that in allowing states to have  Gencos to supply to their own specific regions and giving off their spinning reserves to others, it will encourage federalization and a certain competitiveness in the industry; allowing the Northern states focus on developing their strengths in renewable energies ie. wind and solar. A bill in this regard would require  an amendment of the EPSR Act of 2005 not to keep the Transmission Company of Nigeria as a government owned but privately managed company but rather adding it to the privatization scheme.

 Another patriotic Nigerian, Nnamdi Ugwu, a Port Harcourt based Civil Engineer had the idea to provide funding for Gencos using renewable energy at low interest. He suggests that these funds will be provided from the taxes generated from the fossil fuel stations; such that we encourage much more focused generation, in a cleaner way and improve technology dissipation in the country. In addition, if the distribution companies are obliged to source a certain percentage of their power from renewable energy sources which will keep climbing over a certain time frame, we will always have companies springing up to meet this need for more and more renewable energy.

As the world moves ahead, a gradual shift from fossil fuels into green energy is imperative to the sustenance of mankind as we know it. For developing countries such as Nigeria it would be wise to skip a whole era of being dependent of fossil fuels and move directly into renewable energy. Our current policies do not give preference to green energy over fossil fuels and even our Power Road map does not cite green energy as part of our short term goals in meeting the needs of the power industry. I personally believe that though it is capital intensive and not immediately viable, the government and indeed our legislators should place some emphasis on policies involving green energy as this would provide us with the quantum leap needed to move our country into the 21^st century. Why fight an old problem with an old solution?

In conclusion, how much do you know about the law and your power to effect a change in it? We can do a lot…we can suggest, we can place calls and bombard the House with our ideas, we are the government, we are the legislature and we are Nigeria!

Senate Committee on Privatization

Senate Committee on Power.

http://www.nassnig.org/nass/index.php

http://www.nassnig.org/nass/committees.php