The recurring collapse of the national grid

Nigeria’s increasingly precarious energy supply situation took a turn for the worse last week when the national grid suffered a system collapse twice within the space of 24 hours. Before last weekend’s double collapse, the country’s national grid had collapsed an estimated 130 times since 2013 when moves were made to privatise the power sector. The most recent collapse came on the heels of a week-long fuel shortage that crippled socio-economic life across the country and made daily life even more miserable for the average Nigerian.

If another collapse is the last thing Nigerians expected, insult has been added to injury by the failure of the authorities to provide a coherent explanation. That, and the consequent undignified trading of blames among key stakeholders. The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, attributed the latest collapse to “vandalism of pipelines, disputes around the availability of gas as well as payment for gas contracts between gas companies and GenCos (Electricity Generation Companies).” The previous week, the minister had blamed worsening supply of power in the country on low water level at the dams. While there may be some merit to these explanations, many Nigerians understandably view them as mere excuses, rightly wondering why the government cannot mobilise resources to neutralise pipeline vandalism or prepare in advance for declining water levels at the dams since this tends to occur during the same period annually.

Disputation among key stakeholders has only aggravated Nigerians’ frustration. While the Federal Government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) blames GenCos for low power generation, the GenCos insist that their work is effectively stymied by the more than N1.6 trillion owed them by the Federal Government going back to 2013. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) disputes the GenCos’ claim, insisting that “only companies with active gas supply and transportation contracts were paid for unutilised capacity.” The exchange of blames has deepened public anger that no one seems to be on top of the situation.

The recent collapse extends Nigeria’s wretched run in power generation. For a country of more than 200 million people, its installed capacity of 12,555 Megawatts is abysmal. By contrast, South Africa, with a population of slightly less than 60 million, generates almost 60,000 megawatts. In effect, Nigeria’s abysmal power generation has the same effect on its citizens as an invisible tariff in terms of energy that is bottled up and prevented from being unleashed.

Over the years, several proposals have been advanced to bring the Nigerian power sector up to par with what obtains in other middle-income economies across the world. Invariably, and to Nigerians’ eternal frustration, such proposals have foundered on the rocks of corruption and political nepotism. Yet, if the country is to fulfill its developmental aspirations, it is difficult to see past steady power generation, a dream, incidentally, that the country boasts enough gas resources to accomplish.

It has become imperative to explore other options for power generation outside a consolidated national grid that is prone to mismanagement and graft. For instance, states should be able to band together to generate their own power, and we are pleased to see that the House of Representatives is currently considering a law that would make this possible. Evidently, the current system of power generation does not work. It is time to abolish it in favour of a more reliable method.