Ogun: The audacious electricity challenge

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SINCE the Federal Government adopted the Electricity Act, 2023 on June 9, 2023, not much has been heard from the state governments as to the implementation of the beneficial effects of the power reform Act.

For starters, the Electricity Act 2023 is one law that seeks to restructure the power sector in the country by repealing the Electricity and Power Reform Act 2005, which locates the Power Sector largely in the exclusive legislative list of the federation. The Electricity Act liberalises the sector in a way that accommodates the states, companies, and individuals in the power sector value chain.

Apart from liberalisation of the transmission, distribution, and generation segments of the power sector under the Act, the states are empowered to generate, transmit and distribute electricity. For instance, the Act encourages the states to issue licenses to private investors who may operate mini-grids and power plants within their territory.

The Act equally allows private investors to obtain generation licenses; transmission licenses; system operations licenses; trading licenses, and distribution and supply licenses, while also permitting the integration of renewable energy technologies into the grid.

With all the advantages offered by the Electricity Act 2023, it is surprising that not many states have launched policy initiatives aimed at benefiting from the several goodies inherent therein.

Power supply has been a major source of retrogression for the Nigerian economy since its inception. Perhaps one can say that a little progress was achieved between the First Republic and the start of the Second Republic, but things had started going southwards ever since. In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo inherited the power distribution capacity at around 3,000 megawatts, when President Goodluck Jonathan was leaving in 2015, the capacity was around 5,000 megawatts. Right now, generation capacity has shot up to over 7,000mw but distribution still hovers around 4,500mw. What this means is that the power supply capacity has retrogressed, especially if we consider the annual population growth rate.

So one would truly expect the states to jump at the law that liberalises the power sector going by the inherent developmental objectives and the relief it would bring to bear on the socio-economic circumstances in the states.

It appears, however, as if good news is coming to the people of Ogun State as far as the domestication of Electricity Act 2023 is concerned. In recent times, the governor of Ogun State Prince Dapo Abiodun has been making promises indicative of his desire to see Ogun as the first state to experience uninterrupted power supply. My checks revealed that the governor even made his first intervention in this regard well ahead of the adoption of the Electricity Act 2023 in June 2023. Maybe that showcases him as a visionary of sorts.

While launching his second term bid in Abeokuta, the state capital in November 2022, Governor Abiodun declared the readiness of his government, if voted into office for a second term, to get rid of the power of darkness represented by the existing public power supply situation in the country.

In his speech at the campaign flag-off, Abiodun had said: “We have come up with a viable blueprint to be implemented for our second term in office. Our administration is determined to implement the supply of uninterrupted power to our major cities, towns, and industrial hubs.

“Similarly, we are planning to implement Project Light-up Ogun during our second term in office. This project will focus on the reduction of diesel prices and the constant peril of consumption and pollution as well as the conversion to gas-powered vehicles and motorcycles popularly called okada.”

Again, during a luncheon he held with members of the business community in the state late in November 2023, the governor restated the determination of his administration to ensure an uninterrupted power supply in the state.

He said: “Let me inform you that power generation is the focus of our second term under the Light-Up Project initiative which seeks to ensure 24-hour uninterrupted power supply in Ogun State. This would be achieved before I leave office in 2027.”

As an interested party, I asked the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tokunbo Talabi to give vent to these proclamations in an interview in December and he not only corroborated the policy statements but gave further details of how the state would “very, very soon” start enjoying uninterrupted power supply.

He said in the interview: “The legacy for this time around is centered on two things. The first one is water and the second one is electricity. We are going to witness before the end of this administration, and mark my words, that we will be able to count days un-end, maybe 200 days, 100 days, 300 days where electricity would not blink in Ogun State and we are starting with the urban areas first.”

He further told me that the state runs a Public, Private Partnership initiative that enables the public sector to take off the risks inherent in major projects, and executes the critical and possibly cumbersome aspects of the projects while creating a measure of de javu for the incoming investor to complete and operate. He said that a similar model was adopted in handling the Ogun Agro-Cargo Airport, which he said has now been concessioned because the state had de-risked the process.

It would be good news if Ogun could see through these policy statements of the governor and the SSG and put to test the Electricity Act 2023. And in truth, Ogun should be leading the way in pioneering uninterrupted electricity. Aside from Lagos, the state is the next industrialised state in the country. With Agbara Industrial Estate and the sprawling industrial sites dotting the length and breadth of Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, the state stands to benefit in huge quantum if it can fix electricity and ensure the industries work to full capacity with little or no stress on power supply.

Going by the direct and unmistakable promises coming from the topmost echelons of power in Ogun State, the people have something to look forward to from the Dapo Abiodun administration. They also must ensure the government translates policy statements into action. And if Ogun is already making efforts to tap into the anointing of the Electricity Act, 2023, the other 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja don’t need to wait any longer. The nation’s power sector needed to be fixed like yesterday.

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