*Approves new electricity tariff
*PHCN workers suspend strike

By Clara Nwachukwu &Yemie Adeoye

LAGOS—PRESIDENT Goodluck Ebele Jonathan said, yesterday, he planned to eliminate constant power outage in the country by 2012 through the introduction of ‘revolutionary’ policies to tackle the plethora of challenges bedeviling the sector.

The president’s aspiration was unveiled in Lagos at the launch of the Power Sector Road Map, the execution of which he said, would be fast- tracked to create numerous employment opportunities, while also revamping the nation’s ailing economy.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Ebele Jonathan during his arrival in Lagos

President Jonathan who said: “We need a revolution in the power sector,” also stated that his administration had identified most of the bottlenecks impeding efficient and effective electricity supply in the country.

He noted: “By God’s grace, by December 2012, Nigeria will not only celebrate one day of uninterrupted electricity supply but we would celebrate one week, one month and so on of uninterrupted electricity supply.”

President Jonathan, however, believed that this will only be possible through the support of the various stakeholders, who are currently being engaged in constructive discussions on sustainable ways out of the current power quagmire.

New policies
Parts of the revolutionary polices the President enunciated include:

*The construction of what he described as “a super transmission network of 7000 Kilovolts, the procurement and design will commence next year.” This is in acknowledgement of the current weakness in electricity infrastructure, which frustrates the evacuation of electricity from the plants to the homes of Nigerians through the national grid.

*Review of current tariff structure on the grounds that Nigeria’s current structure is the lowest and needs to be reviewed to encourage fresh investments, while not unmindful of the purchasing power of the masses

*Generation of additional 5000mega watts within the next three years from new and existing independent power plants

*Active and serious exploitation of hydro, nuclear and coal power, especially coal in states like Gombe, Enugu, Kogi and Benue states in the next two years, which will be more private-sector driven

*Privatization of generation and distribution, while government retains transmission for strategic reasons

*Constitution of two presidential committees on power and the reconstitution of the board and membership of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, whose names have been forwarded to the National Assembly for approval

Power challenges
The president said his assessment of the issues affecting the sector over the past few years, revealed that “the sector’s challenge to effective electricity delivery in Nigeria include the absence of sustained policies and deliberately deploying long term power development strategy, the absence of and low implementation of reforms to fast track all issues pertaining to the power sector.”

The President who was flanked by ministers, advisers and state governors, said Government was convinced that “it is only by constructively engaging the private sector as partners in this journey of national transformation that we can be assured of success.”

President Jonathan with Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola at the event

He added that constant power outages are perhaps the greatest paradox of life in Nigeria, which despite producing more than two million barrels per day of crude oil, relied on diesel generators to power everything from phone chargers to luxury hotels.

Powerful vested interests
World Bank country director, Onno Ruhl, who noted that successive governments had tried to fix the power problems, stressed that powerful vested interests such as billionaire tycoons who import diesel and generators, and the chronic mismanagement of state-run utilities frustrated progress in the sector.

He said: “This roadmap brings us to a point where we finally have a realistic plan that is actually technically, commercially sound, in terms of the role of the private sector, the role of government. The question is, will all the partners behind it actually rally around it and implement it … If it gets implemented, it will deliver results.”

Ruhl noted that fighting the graft and mismanagement that had hobbled the sector will be more of a political test than laying out plans, adding that in the challenges to reform listed by ministers and officials, the issue of corruption was conspicuous by its absence.

Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga, said: “If there is anything that unites Nigerians, it is a desire for power, electricity,” adding that his ministry was focused on creating the right environment to attract investment as quickly as possible.

He said the nation had the world’s seventh_largest natural gas reserves and planned to use them as the source for improving power supply.

Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison_Madueke, said gas supply to the power sector was already at an all_time high but estimated that demand from domestic energy producers would rise to 3 billion cubic feet per day by 2015 from around 800 million now.

She said that President Jonathan had already announced plans for a $3.5 billion transmission “supergrid” to be jointly financed with the private sector, while the privatisation agency had said it was seeking core investors for 11 state_run electricity distribution firms.

Bomb Disposal squad at the airport during Jonathan's visit to Lagos yesterday.

Allison-Madueke said some of the firms in highly populated and relatively developed areas such as Lagos were likely to attract significant interest from foreign investors, potentially triggering bidding wars, adding that others in less-developed areas and with greater infrastructure challenges may be less attractive.

$12bn investment in energy, transportation
In another development, Vice President Namadi Sambo said the Federal Government has invested $12 billion in tackling the problem of power supply and the resuscitation of the nation’s rail transportation system.

Sambo who was addressing members of the Nigerian community in Bujumbura, shortly after the inauguration of President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, said the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was doing everything within its power to reduce the problem of poverty in the country.

Vice President Sambo said: “The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is doing everything to ensure that we drive out poverty from Nigeria, and also transform our society and improve our economy,” adding that the emphasis of the government was to address the power supply problem in the country decisively.

He said: “We are doing a lot in the real sector, we are doing a lot in the power sector to ensure that power supply is being addressed with all the seriousness it deserves. The government is investing over $10 billion in the generation, transmission and distribution of power so as to attract direct foreign investors in the sector.”

The Vice President stated that government would continue to give emphasis on medium and large power plants as well as coal power plants for generation of electricity supply in country. Stressing that the government was putting a lot of efforts in developing our transport system, Sambo said: “Our old railway system is now brought back to use and new railway is being built.  Over N2 billion is being invested in this area.”

Earlier, the Head of Nigerian Mission in Burundi, Mr. Sheidu Momoh, had said that the few Nigerians residing in the country had been contributing positively to the development of the country. He called on the Federal Government to take advantage of the return of peace in Burundi to acquire permanent structures for the Nigerian Embassy in the country.