By Chiagozie Udeh and Oseloka H. Obaze
National development, economic growth, infrastructure, industrialization
and manufacturing, share a common denominator; adequate and constant power
supply. Such regularity in power supply guarantees that industries that
create employment and wealth, run on a twenty-four hour cycle. Despite
years of lip service to building up power supply in Nigeria, the capacity
and adequacy of electricity remains largely unchanged. Presently, Nigeria
with a population of over 180 million people has a total installed
capacity for electricity of 12,522MW with her peak generation output at
5,074MW. Comparatively, South Africa with a population of 52.4 million has
a total installed capacity of 45,000MW and peak generation of 35,819MW.
When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in May 2015, he prioritized
solving the electricity conundrum in Nigeria. Recently, the Federal
Government tweeted, Generated power has gone up to 7,000MW in 2017 from
3,000MW in May 2015; transmission capacity at 6,900MW in 2017 from about
5,000MW in May 2015; peak distribution now averaging 5,000MW in 2017 from
2,690MW in 2015. Encouraging as these figures are, they can hardly be
confirmed by the realities experienced in Nigerian industries, homes and
streets. To Nigerians, there have been no drastic changes in electricity
generation and distribution in the past three years.
Nonetheless, Minister for Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has been
trumpeting at every opportunity that Nigeria now generates more than its
distributive capacity; seemingly oblivious of the dissonance in policy and
implementation which he seeks to highlights. As Minister Fashola opined
recently, If we can produce 7,000 megawatts and we can only distribute
about 5,000 megawatts; the problem has changed from lack of power to
locating where the need is.” Generating power absent distributive capacity
is equal to inability to generate.
Ironically, most Nigerians don’t understand or care about the dialectics
of power supply; all they need is power twenty-four-seven. Nigerians want
affordable electricity on demand. Just like their mobile phones – which
they recharge when they want- Nigerians want an electricity solution where
they will be in control. Currently, the electricity sector operates on a
rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul basis, where consumers lucky to have the prepaid
meters enjoy the indirect subsidy by consumers who are unlucky not to have
their meters installed. Some consumers who paid for meters have been
waitlisted for over five years and are in the interim paying almost 100
percent more than those boasting of the prepaid meters. What is perhaps
more frustrating, is that the assessed bills are inversely proportional to
actual electricity consumed. This mode of electricity demand and supply is
no longer sustainable in Nigeria. At a time the rest of the world is
exploring alternative sustainable energy, Nigeria cant afford to look
away. Enter solar energy.
Nigeria retains great potentialities to switch to 100 percent clean energy
with solar power. Recent scientific analysis and recorded weather readings
indicate that the scorching intensity of the sun in parts of Northern
Nigeria result in solar irradiation at 7.0Kw.m2/day; while readings in
the coastal areas, hovers around an average of 3.5 kw.m2/day. Accordingly,
as reported by Financial Nigeria International, analysts have projected
that Nigeria could generate 600,000MW by deploying Solar PV panels from
just 1% of Nigeria’s land mass. Such generative capacity for a country
that requires only about 50,000 MW to be adequately electrified is simply
astonishing. What is far much astounding is why Nigerian policymakers seem
averse to exploring the nations solar power potentials. Two causative
factors bedeviling solar energy deployment are readily identifiable;
governments lack of willingness to invest in solar power and Nigerias
officialdom treating the funding of solar power exploration as though it
is the exclusive preserve of international development partners.
Acceptably, Nigerias federal government cannot fund diversification to
solar energy alone. However, it must exhibit the willingness and be seen
as effectively proactive in deploying its limited resources in this area.
There is also dissonance in related policy debate, as evidenced by the
Nigerian Senates attitude and its consequent rejection of the N10bn solar
proposal for rural electrification of nine federal Universities and 37
Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria. The query by Senator Buka Mustapher, the
Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and
Metallurgy, during the Ministry of Powers 2018 defense of its budget as
to Who is paying for the installations when the power sector had been
privatized? is indicative of the prevailing lack of requisite knowledge
and proper briefing on the matter. The notion also exist that the
lawmakers are simply protecting vested interests in the power sector.
Policy Incentives
It can be readily concluded that besides a dearth of favourable policies
on solar deployment in Nigeria, the prevailing inertia derives also from
the lack of implementation of extant policies. The National Renewable
Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy 2015 (NREEEP), beyond setting the
target of achieving 16% renewable energy consumption for Nigeria by year
2030, provides some decent incentives for the sector, including; Free
Custom Duties for two (2) years on the importation of renewable energy
equipment; allows project developers to obtain soft loans from the
Renewable Electricity Fund (REF); tax incentives/holidays to manufacturers
of renewable energy products; and assist in allocation of land to
manufacturers. These are great policies meant to incentivize solar energy
deployment in Nigeria. The NREEEP If effectively deployed, would also
assist Nigeria to achieve Goal 7 (Clean Energy) of the Sustainable
Development Goals of the United Nations.
Government Responsibility
What must the government do? Government must change its attitude and
approach to the solar energy sector. It must take the lead and see solar
energy as a long-term strategic bankable option. Government should rethink
Nigerias engagement with its international development partners,
especially International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the African
Development Bank (AFDB). Both organizations stand ready to not only
support and fund solar projects, but also help member States develop such
bankable projects. It should be realized also that lack of bankable
projects remains the biggest reason why most international funders wont
commit their money to some projects. Government must also delineate
clearly, her experts and representatives in this critical sector. Oddly,
at the 7th IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi in 2017, it was Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu,
the Minister of Science and Technology, who represented Nigeria, a fact
that left many struggling to understand the absence of the oversight
Minister of Power. The consolidation of Ministries of Works, Housing and
Power under one Minister is indubitably playing a negative role in this
regard.
In the meantime, Nigeria is ripe for massive solar deployment and most
individuals/businesses are already opting for home solar systems in the
off-grid (stand-alone) space. It is now for the federal government to
embrace its responsibility to scale up the deployment of solar energy
starting with public buildings, parks and streets, then expanding to Small
and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMES) across the country. Its time to act.
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Udeh is a Climate Policy Research Associate at Selonnes Consult Ltd.;
Obaze is MD/CEO, Selonnes Consult Ltd.