Experts List Ways to Accelerate Electricity Delivery to Lagos

Against the reported dwindling daily supply of electricity to Lagos State, experts and stakeholders in power, gas and related sectors have canvassed for significant improvement in the current gas supply across the country as one of the critical issues that requires urgent attention in order to stimulate efficient power delivery to the state. The stakeholders also tasked government at all levels to increase efforts at eliminating the activities of vandals who burst gas pipelines and other power transmission equipment, saying the unchecked menace of those behind the act was a major stumbling block to the availability of power in the country. The experts spoke on the topic, ”How can electricity delivery to Lagos be accelerated?”, in one of the plenary sessions at the ongoing seventh Lagos Economic Summit, at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. The speakers included a former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji; Commissioner, Rates and Market Competition, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory, Commission (NERC), Mr. Eyo Ekpo; and Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. David Ige. Others were Chairman, Falcon Petroleum Ltd., Mr. Chima Ibeneche; Managing Director, Sahara Power, Mr. Kola Adesina; Chairman, West Power and Gas, Mr. Charles Momoh; and General Manager, Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB), Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi. Prof. Nnaji, who was the lead speaker at the session, said among other ways to achieve efficient electricity supply in Nigeria there was a need to conduct an audit into the power demand of the entire country, just as Lagos State had done. ”We cannot know the amount of power we need unless we do an audit. So, Lagos was right when it said it requires 10,000MW. If Lagos with a population of 20 million needs 10,000MW, you can imagine what Nigeria with about 170 million people needs. So, that means something has to be done”, he said. The former minister noted that the country would not be able to accelerate its socio-economic growth unless the power challenge was overcome, stressing that the top 20 countries of the world like China, which is currently the world’s largest producer of power, South Africa and Mexico among others generate power in excess of their demand. Nnaji suggested further that proper alignment of the entire value chain of power generation, transmission and distribution, the development of emergency power system, increased partnership with Independent Power Plant(IPP) producers, the creation of necessary institutional frameworks and facilitation of an enabling environment would go a long way to accelerate power delivery to the state. On his part, Mr. Ibeneche who chaired the session, also corroborated that the security of investment, right pricing and efficient usage of available electricity were also critical considerations to accelerate the delivery of power to the state. He said, ”there should be efficiency in power generation and distribution in order to sustain the delivery of power to Lagos. The pricing must also be right otherwise power can be priced out of the reach of many consumers because if the price is not efficient, it can make downstream use of power uneconomic. ”Again, we will also need to ensure that regulatory and law enforcement agencies work together so that those who are making efforts and investment to bring power to Lagos can ensure revenue is delivered.” In his submission, Ekpo said to accelerate power delivery, there was a need to remove all the impediments identified by various speakers while the state government should also consider tax incentives and other institutional reforms that could endear the private sector to invest in power opportunities in the state. ”Government can provide or acquire the land, facilitate right of ways for gas pipeline and transmission equipment, reduce taxes or give some kind of tax incentives. That is, enabling the private sector. All these can help to accelerate the delivery of power to the state”, he said. While pledging the readiness of the private sector to support the state government in its desire for an efficient power supply, both the Sahara Power managing director, Mr. Adesina and the chairman of West Power and Gas, Mr. Momoh called for a value re-orientation among the citizens generally. Adesina submitted that the activities of vandals not only amounted to an economic crime, but a disservice to humanity because once the supply of electricity was impaired due to their nefarious ativities, millions of lives suffered the adverse consequences. Momoh added that the two distribution companies in Lagos – EKO Discos and Ikeja Discos – have the capacity to increase their daily average distribution if power generation and the supply of gas could be increased. Dr. Ige disclosed that although the Federal Government has increased the availability of gas ”astronomically” to ensure power stability in the last three years, he said the rapid bursting of gas pipelines has constituted a clog in the wheel of progress. He called for the cooperation of all stakeholders including the people to tackle the menace. The NNPC chief said, ”about three years ago, the total gas supply was three million cubits, but that has been tripled now to about one trillion cubits. We have grown gas supply astronomically but we’ve got to confront the activities of vandals who are frustrating government’s effort to ensure stable power supply. Whenever any of our gas pipelines is vandalised, about 30% of our gas supply capacity is affected.” Speaking on the initiatives taken by the state government to accelerate the delivery of power to the state, Mrs. Ogunbiyi revealed that work was ongoing to set up a one-stop shop to fast-track the handling of all issues relating to right of way and power infrastructure development in the state. She added that apart from the three functional power plants in Akute, Lagos Island and Alausa, work was ongoing on two other plants even as she beckoned on the private sector for increased partnership with government to solve the power challenge in the country. The theme of the summit is, ‘Powering the Lagos Economy: Real Opportunities, Endless Possibilities’. The summit speaks to the significant role which power plays as a catalyst for stimulating growth and the limitless investment opportunities in the power sector of the Lagos economy. ”