6000MW: Is time running out

By Oscarline ONWUEMENYI

With barely a month to the end of the deadline by the Federal government for the actualization of 6,000 megawatts of electricity across the country, it is not surprising that the major actors on the scene are beginning to look askance, and seek plausible excuses and explanations for why the arrow is far from hitting the target.

Cue last month’s Ministerial press briefing in Abuja, where the Minister of Power, Dr. Lanre Babalola, was expected to fortify the hopes of Nigerians that come December 31, 2009 every home, street and office corner will have more power than they would need, it was another excuses galore. And there is no gain-saying therefore, to argue that Nigerians are losing faith that such an ambition would be achieved in the nearest future.

Speaking at the briefing, Babalola noted that the shortage of gas needed to run thermal stations could derail the attainment of the 6000MW of electricity which President Umaru Yar’ Adua promised would be achieved by December 2009. According to him, “Gas required to power the 5000MW is the challenge of the energy sector. If there are no constraints to gas today, we can generate over 5000MW today.

Hydro Power Plant

The only reason we still hovering around 3000MW today is because of gas constraints.” He added, however, that the ongoing rehabilitation of power stations owned by PHCN and independent power producers is also expected to deliver additional 718MW before December and bring total available capacity to 6,240MW.

Babalola explained that although the Ministry of Power and PHCN were not directly involved in the gathering and supply of gas, they were collaborating with the Ministry of Petroleum, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and international oil companies to ensure adequate supply of gas needed to achieve the target.

He stated that projects which NNPC and oil companies initiated so as to improve gas supply were stalled by the activities of militants in the Niger Delta region, although some were being restarted with cessation of violence in the region as result of the amnesty programme. He noted that the independent power producers-Shell, Agip and AES account for 24 per cent of the available generation capacity. The Minister also noted that government realised that meeting the 6000MW target will be faster through rehabilitation of existing plants, rather than seeking to complete the new power stations.

Prior to last month’s briefing, Babalola had sounded more gutsy, stressing that the government was on course to achieving the 6000 megawatts for improved power supply in the country by December 31, 2009, insisting that the Federal government was working on improving the supply of gas to the various power plants across the country, and that Nigerians should not be bothered about the prospect of achieving improved megawatts of electricity.

He had told this reporter in an interview, “Our job is to ensure that there is power supply everyday, and not just wait till December 31 to give Nigerians improved power. The December target, however, is still very valid, but we are more interested in giving power everyday and all our efforts are geared towards that objective.”

Babalola noted that the disruption to gas supply through the activities of militants in the Niger Delta would not disrupt government’s plan to generate and distribute 6000 megawatts of electricity by December 31, 2009. He said that government was “working very hard to address the issue of gas supply, especially for power projects. We have seen some improvements of late, but we expect to have more improvements in gas supply in the coming months to enable us meet the target.”

The minister, however, admitted that there had been serious issues challenges with regards to public procurement in the power sector which must be addressed for the country to enjoy value for money in the execution of power projects. There were lapses that needed to be looked into and corrected. It is important to plan properly for something, to make sure that you are doing the right thing. There is also need for transparency and value for money in the process of public contracting in the power sector.”

He added, “If you don’t plan properly for a project and you go out to ask for money that is not right. There is need to always do the right thing by abiding with procurement laws, and helping the government achieves efficiency and budgetary discipline in the power sector. Babalola pointed out that such lapse in the power sector remained a perennial issue and government was commitment in establishing a robust procurement principles.

“We are working very hard to ensure that we achieve our objectives with regards to improving power generation in the country, and I have no reason to doubt the commitment of the various stakeholders gathered here to engage the process and work out better and more efficient ways to handle procurement issue for the sector,” he said.

Also recently, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Sanusi Mohammed Barkindo, undertook a tour of some gas facilities in the country to ascertain their readiness to help meet Federal Government’s immediate target for 6,000 megawatts of electricity come end of December, 2009, and 10,000 megawatts by 2011.

Primarily, the NNPC boss toured the Okoloma Gas Plant and Afam Integrated Gas and Power Plant both in Rivers State , and the Oben Gas Plant in Edo State . According to Barkindo, the projects are central to the realization of the administration’s pledge to generate 6000 megawatts of electricity by the end of this year, adding that in spite of the initial security challenges posed by the activities of militants, the projects have reached advanced stages, expressing optimism that the current peace brought about by the presidential amnesty to the militants would help to speed up their completion and commissioning.

He explained that the inspection was a pre-commissioning. “We are now beginning the pre-commissioning process of the plant and we hope President Umaru Yar’adua will find the time to formally commission this very important project for domestic gas supply and power generation for the country.” He added, “As you are aware, all hands are on deck  together with our partners Shell Petroleum Development Company to ensure that we meet our short term supply obligations in terms of gas to power for 2009 and as well as 2010.