According to the 2013 annual report of Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) Nigerians are among the people most deprived of grid-based electricity in the world, with a per capita consumption that is far lower than most countries in the world. In the last couple of years, I have posted no less than a dozen articles commenting on our electricity issues. I have also been very clear in condemning government actions that I believe is incapable of solving our electricity problems. I also warned that those government cronies who were bidding for these facilities neither have the money to pay for them nor the billions of dollars in new investment required boosting our electricity supply. Well, events of the past one year have proven my statements to be right. In August 2013, Nigeria privatised the PHCN and by November 2013 it did a formal handover ceremony where all the buyers received their keys, certificates and all they needed to take over full ownership of these power generation and distribution facilities.
First, you should know that majority of these so called buyers were former heads of states, former presidents, former governors, and many other individuals fronting for them. Perhaps you should also know that upwards of 70 percent of the money used to pay for these facilities were borrowed from the banks, in dollars. And yes, you should also know that less than a year after these purchases, the government has been forced to dole out a N213 billion bailout for these companies as at September 2014. There are just too many problems on many fronts in the power sector.
*this was first published in the Daily Times newspaper dated Friday, December 26, 2014
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