MODERN economies, institutions, families and day to day life require power, particularly electricity. From a review of high level national standards, the goal of the Nigerian electric power sector reforms is to build a power sector that is self reliant, environmentally friendly, sustainable, promoting universal access to affordable and quality electricity to support national development.

This raises several questions including the criteria electric power needs to meet to be compliant with this goal. How can we secure the present day needs while taking care of future generations? Indeed, the challenge of sustainability has become part of everyday discourse that electric power generation, transmission and distribution cannot be exempted from its dictates.

We have been so slow in making the required gas collection and utilization investments including policy and legislative change; that we prefer to flare than to use gas and indeed, we are second on list of countries that flare gas after Russia.

It will be recalled that the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS 200-2007) had made elaborate provisions for the improvement of electric power supply. The provisions include massive investments through the value chain of generation, transmission, and distribution and the gas and pipelines component. This was reinforced by the 7- Point Agenda of the Yar’Adua administration and the Power Sector Roadmap of the Goodluck Jonathan era.

The provisions also made reference to exploring alternative and renewable energy sources, a veritable means of accessing sustainable power. Recommendations coming from initial studies have urged the government to target renewable energy contribution to the national energy mix at 15% by 2011; and new investments in renewable should be encouraged by fiscal incentives. It also urged for environmental standards in the industry limiting emissions and green house gases.

Since then, Nigeria has spent an indeterminate sum of money to reform the electric power sector. There have been heavy investments especially in generation during the Obasanjo years and the figures that came out of the National Assembly probe kept shifting from $20billion to less than that. The Yar’Adua and Jonathan governments have also spent massively on power sector reforms.

The estimate is that from the Obasanjo government to the present day, more than $30billion in investments has gone into the sector with little or no results. New challenges keep emerging in the sector to the extent that improvements in power supply to homes, offices and industries have not kept pace with investments. If it is not about the lack of transmission capacity to wheel the available generated megawatts; it is about lack of gas to fire the generating plants.

Thus, procurement planning for the sector was poor and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. It can therefore be affirmed that the more the investment in the sector, the less energy and more darkness available to the population.     However, the government did not explore and invest in alternative energy platforms or provide the enabling environment to enable private sector operatives to do so.

If we have invested so much in traditional energy platforms and it is not working; is it not time while continuing to see to the logical conclusion of those investments to try something new? Despite our abundant solar, hydro and wind energy resources, they have remained promises that may not materialise. Instead of increasing investments in renewable energy, there are promises of investments in dirty coal and even talks of nuclear plants.

This is coming at a time advanced countries like Japan and Russia found it difficult to manage nuclear power stations and accidents in those countries were a massive disaster. Unless we are determined to commit mass suicide, then we can go for a nuclear power generating plant.

It is time to look up to renewable energy especially in their small off-grid forms which can take care of the small energy needs of distant and far flung locations, not necessarily connected to the national grid which looses 40 percent of wheeled energy. The advantages of this approach are legion including reduced carbon emission, employment generation, electricity that is sustainable and does not take long to develop and use; local control and participation in generation and management of electricity, etc. The time to act is now.

Mr. Eze Onyekepere, a lawyer, wrote from Abuja.