…as Uwaifo calls for commercialization, higher load factor
By Osa Amadi
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Professor James Momoh, said Nigeria can’t grow if we don’t increase awareness of science in this country just as he blamed failure by successive governments to grow and develop the power sector to allow for the industrialisation of the country.

NASA shows the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team in the MSL Mission Support Area reacting after learning that the Curiosity rover has landed safely on Mars and images start coming in at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Mars on August 5, 2012 in Pasadena, California. NASA’s 2.5 billion USD Mars rover on August 5 made a dramatic touchdown on the Red Planet, marking a successful end to the most sophisticated Mars attempt in history. AFP PHOTO

This is even as Engineer Solomon Omorodion Uwaifo, a renowned power sector expert, author and joint winner of the NLNG Prize for Literature, fingered the lack of commercial engineering for the poor state of electricity utility in the country, calling for a change in the mantra of operations by both the government and discos while aiming for higher load factors and their sustenance as part solutions to the sector.

Both of them made these disclosures Thursday in Lagos at the public presentation of the book, titled, Conversations in Electric Utility Engineering, written by Uwaifo.

Momoh, who was the chairman at the event, in his remark, traced the history of electric utility by Edison, which he said grown in quantum over the years to engineer production and industrialisation across the world.

But in the case of Nigeria, he said the country didn’t take full advantage of the entire utility spectrum of electricity. Pointing to the lack of creativity, innovation, and investors as the sector tended to depend largely on the government.

‘‘We didn’t grow our electricity,’’ he said, however, all hopes, he said is not lost, ‘‘but thank goodness that we still have hope.’’ The NERC chairman who said he felt honoured and privileged to be invited to chair the event said such a hope can only be rekindled if Nigerians follow through some of the prescriptions offered by the author in the book.

Even as he said that: ‘‘We need to develop academics, we need books, which Uwaifo has graciously provided for us over the years through his various publications,’’ adding that, ‘‘we are here to celebrate the pioneer and Edison of our world.

‘‘Nigeria can’t grow if we don’t increase the awareness of science in this country. Uwaifo has given us hope and if we want to get there as a nation we need to embrace technology and science. We will not get there if we don’t.

‘‘We are asking for new technology and we at NERC can only make an impact if we know and embrace the big knowledge.’’

While Uwaifo in his overview of the power sector lamented the abysmal performance of the sector, which he blamed on the misfits that have visited the sector over the years, pointing not only to failure by the managers and government to embrace full utilisation of electricity but commercial engineering.

‘‘That level of focus on commercial engineering was as much as we needed in those early years perhaps, but in subsequent years when the ECN needed more, the focus disappeared entirely. Leadership which lacked an understanding of engineering economics and rate making were continually posted to head the departments.’’

To forge ahead, he called on the discos to have complete control of the design of electricity rates and rate structures while NERC, he said should concern itself more with return on investment, accounting, depreciation and human resource practice in the discos, adding that ‘‘direct control of rates by NERC constraints the discos at a time when they need the freedom to embrace creative management of electric power and its market.’’

Also, Uwaifo called for improvement on generation, transmission and distribution, adding that: ‘‘We must work for higher load factors and sustain them. That is the way to lower rates and increase revenues.’’