Nigeria’s power sector not performing optimally ― Gbajabiamila

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, on Tuesday, expressed displeasure over the Nigerian electric power sector’s inability to perform optimally.

Hon Gbajabiamila made the observation while declaring open a public hearing on the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (Amendment) Bill and held at the instance of House Committee on Power, during which Stakeholders drawn from both public including Trade Union Congress (TUC) and private sectors of the nation’s economy expressed overwhelming support for the bill which seeks to establish Nigerian Institution of Power Engineers (NIPEN).

The Speaker who tasked the Federal Government with the need to ensure a paradigm shift in the power sector, said: “Every Nigerian understands that the electric power sector in Nigeria is not performing optimally.

“Most people recognise that a situation where we cannot expect twenty-four-hour electricity in our cities and many rural areas remain wholly disconnected from the benefits of access to electricity is unacceptable.

“We all, for the most part, agree that it is the responsibility of the government to do something about this situation.”

Hon Gbajabiamila said ordinary citizens, power industry operators, regulators and government all have different understandings of why the dysfunction in the power sector exists and persists and that “there are just as many ideas and recommendations for how to fix it.”

He noted that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005 was a substantial piece of legislation and remains the most significant statutory reform of the power sector in Nigeria for a generation.

“When it was written and passed into law, it was intended that the provisions of the Act would establish a new framework for optimal public-private sector collaboration to accelerate development in the power sector and promote efficiency across the power sector value chain.

“The extent to which these expectations have been met is one of the many issues in contention. Answering the question of what needs to be done to improve the Act so that it serves the best purposes of our country is the reason we have gathered here in this public hearing.”

While giving the NIPEN position paper, NIPEN President, Engineer Israel Eseghogbon Abraham observed that by virtue of section 4, item 36 of the Exclusive List to 1999 Constitution (as amended), the National Assembly has powers to approve the creation of new professional disciplines and professional regulatory bodies to guide the ethical and disciplined practise of such professions and in the exercise of such powers the National Assembly can enact the Chartered Institute of Power Engineers (CIPEN) as the special enactment on the regulation and practice of power engineering profession.

Engineer Abraham said: “From all the narrative proffered above that every industry have its professionals and the Electricity sector cannot be in isolation, considering its importance. If Nigeria wants to rise and become an advanced economy, it has to have its own industrial base and might.

“To reach that stage, one of the main criteria is that its power engineering practitioners or professionals thereof should be well versed in the latest skills and technological developments which will culminate in their ability to churn out products and exhibit processes competence in their chosen industry practice.

“To achieve that status, the only solution is the path of independent regulation for its professionals that will create an environment of excellence through professional self-regulation,” he noted.

According to him, the bill seeks to “bring to the knowledge of all persons that power engineering practice is unique and different from electrical engineering science. It should also be noted that Power Engineering practices are not based or limited only to those who study Electrical Engineering science as graduates but it is a multi-disciplinary engineering field made up of Mechanical, Electrical, Structural, Automation Engineering, etc who are engaged in practice as power engineering as Practitioners.

“The bill seeks to bring to the knowledge of all persons that power engineering practice is unique and different from electrical engineering science, while the former has over 20 specialists ‘distinct’ disciplines rolled into an industry, the latter is an amalgamation of different fields of Science including telecommunications, electronics, computers, control, instrumentation, communications, to mention but a few that are loosely related.

“This proposed bill seeks to position the regulation of power industry practitioners in Nigeria as a unique case and set apart from the general practice of electrical engineering in Nigeria. In view of the status of the power industry, and the need to ramp up the development, this Act is expected to focus only on the power industry activities, the practitioners therein and how these can be insulated from the negative politics plaguing the industry.

“The proposed bill seeks to, among other things, recognise that the electricity industry is the most important aspect of any nation’s economic life and to therefore removes those impediments brought about by bureaucracy in the governance of the power sector in Nigeria and provide for strict independent engineering regulation and monitoring of practitioners and practice to bring about a sustainable development in the sector.”

On his part, Chairman, House Committee on Power, chaired by Hon Magaji Da’u Aliyu, said that the public hearing was considered necessary to enable the committee to utilise the outcome of the exercise to address gaps in the existing laws to strengthen the Nigerian power sector for efficient service delivery.

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Nigeria’s power sector not performing optimally ― Gbajabiamila