By Ebele Orakpo

In 2005, the National Electric Power Authority, NEPA which Nigerians nicknamed Never Expect Power Always, was unbundled and renamed Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN (Problem Has Changed Name) because contrary to expectations, the change of name and unbundling did not make them more efficient. The problem of epileptic power supply persisted. Due to the importance of light, most homes have one alternative power source or the other, the most common being the generator. Right now, with the fuel subsidy removal, many people can no longer afford to fuel their generators and so, all eyes are on the electricity company.

Many are complaining about epileptic power supply and some are begging to have that epileptic power supply because they have been in darkness for over 15 years! That is the reality for residents of Ondo South Senatorial District, OSSD. Some still use candles and lanterns which are getting out of the reach of the masses. Their travails seem to be coming to an end thanks to the hard work and tenacity of their leaders. Vanguard spoke with the Olu of Igbokoda and a few residents. The Olu vowed not to rest until his people are served electricity. Excerpts:

Impact on economy

Speaking on the sufferings of his people, His Royal Majesty, Oba Afolabi Odidiomo, Olu of Igbokoda, said OSSD has not had light in the last 15 years and have had to depend solely on generators and those who cannot afford it depend on candles and lanterns.

He said it has affected the economy badly with most of the youths unemployed. “One of the easiest ways to make ends meet is to think of what to do on your own like buying and selling, dry cleaning etc. Some people are into palm kernel breaking; they all need electricity. Many who took bank loans to invest in businesses are battling to pay back. In a nutshell, the lack of electricity for many years has destroyed the minutest of hope that most of our children had.”

He noted that the people who are mostly fishermen, dry their fish, shrimps and crayfish mostly in the night and need electricity. Due to lack of electricity, the women have resorted to manual processing of fish. If there was electricity, their job would be easier as there are local technologies they could employ to dry their shrimps and crayfish. That’s why we have been looking for solution at all cost,” he said.

Sharing her experience, Deborah Aluko, a resident, noted that students cannot study at night nor do computer-based test as others, they are forced to do pencil-on paper because of the light issue.

“Life is just too difficult for us here. Without light, this place cannot develop.”

Another resident, Dr. Giwa said they have been using generator and fuel is very costly. “Many people are using solar which is also expensive; because we use generator for production, prices of goods are high.”

Health, Education

Continued the Olu: “Today, any child in OSSD that wants to do JAMB or computer-based exam, must go to either Ondo Central or Ondo North. That has reduced the number of our children gaining admission into higher institutions. Most of the children here have never seen a computer. They hear about it and do theory in class because there is no light to use one. Labs need electricity to do some basic experiments and preserve reagents, but most of our children do alternative to practical due to lack of electricity, this affects their performance.

“As bad as Nigerian hospitals are, it’s worse here. At a point, we had incubator and scanning machine but we couldn’t use them. We called on Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC for help; they installed solar panels for solar electricity in general hospital but that couldn’t do all that needed to be done. My generator can’t carry my small coffee machine, so what do you say about hospital equipment? We don’t even have a mortuary!”

The Olu who is the Legal Adviser and a member of the OSSD Power Resuscitation Committee said the electricity problem has been on for about four years before he ascended the throne 12 years ago. He immediately made efforts to see if the PHCN could solve the problem “but they were always telling us that one transformer or cable is bad, and needed to be replaced. Once we buy, they charge us for the electricity and say it’s theirs.”

Why we have no light

On why OSSD has been in darkness for so long, Oba Odidiomo said that the DISCO is all about profit and see OSSD as unprofitable so they would rather give to those that would give them bulk money. ”For instance, the industrial park in Ore has many companies so if 10 companies can pay N40m/month, the whole of Igbokoda may not even pay N3m and the DISCO is not ready to buy enough electricity. There’s also technical loss during transmission which they are not ready to bear so they would rather give the little they buy to companies and make much profit. Those who are lucky to fall within that region are given estimated bill to cover the losses.”

Energy Law: “As a lawyer, one of the weapons I know to use best is the law so the first thing I did was to find out if the Nigerian Constitution has any provision as to how energy companies should serve us. Power sector is divided into Generation, Transmission and Distribution. Transmission and Distribution are the problem areas.”

Laws: ”I picked the law establishing Distribution Companies, DISCOs. One of them says that if a DISCO disconnects a consumer, the DISCO is liable to pay compensation of N1,000/day if the consumer is a private residence; N1,500 and N2,000/day respectively for commercial and industrial premises. So if I go to court and say the DISCO should pay N1,000/day/household in Igbokoda for 14 years, we should be talking of trillions of naira..

“Another law says that no DISCO has the right to disconnect consumers for more than three months otherwise, the consumers can declare an Emergency and publish it and once they do, they are no more under that DISCO; they have the right to ask the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, for an independent licence to distribute electricity. The only thing you can’t do is generate more than one megawatt of electricity and distribute it without permission.

NERC: “That law further says that a group of consumers denied electricity for three months, can apply to NERC to distribute electricity to themselves. NERC could also on its own, issue them a licence to take care of their interest if the DISCO is not serving them the way it should. When I saw all these, we approached NERC for an independent licence. We were asked to submit our application, and we did. The law says the unserved and underserved can apply. In our case, the Obas, in all the LGAs came together as the mouthpiece of the people to demand to buy electricity.

“We formed the Ondo South Power Utilities and Natural Resources Limited and got a consultant. When NERC saw that we were about to meet the requirements, they asked us to leave independent licence and take franchise. Franchise means we can distribute electricity to our people using the DISCO’s infrastructure and pay compensation.”

Franchise: The journey turned to snakes and ladders; when they are almost achieving their goal, something happens and they are back to square one.

Said the Olu: ”We agreed to go for franchise but there were a lot of rigmaroling. In the end, the BEDC management gave us a letter dated 9/12/2022, agreeing to franchise but with the exception of Odigbo LGA. They thought Omotosho, the cash cow, is in Odigbo. We didn’t mind but without Odigbo, OSSD will still not have light because the junction from where electricity can go to the five LGAs is in Ore, except the sub-station in Erinje is energized.”

Transformers vandalized: ”The Niger-Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, set up a joint committee with us and BEDC to check what is left of the infrastructure. The report shows that all the transformers have been vandalized and would need about N3b -N4b to restore. Out of 79 transformers in Ilaje, 74 are vandalized; 126 out of 170 in Okitipupa; 18 out of 23 in Irele and 27 out of 36 in Ese-Odo. All the sub-stations are damaged. We decided to replace all of them and asked for prices, entered into agreement and signed MOUs to buy transformers.

Pre-paid metres: The Olu said they have over 1,000 pre-paid meters for the people to buy once electricity is restored as the DISCO has refused to give pre-paid meters.

Setback: “They were to hand over to us about two months ago but before the handover date, the chairman of the DISCO was removed and replaced with another. With the new man, we are going back to the trenches. Government is selling off their interest in energy and the new MD wants to resell Ondo South to NDPHC because the N3b –N4b needed for repairs is huge. We asked him to allow us finish what we are doing and if after six months, there is no electricity, he could take back the franchise. He refused and insisted on going into an agreement with NDPHC to manage Omotosho and another juicy area while the rest goes to the grid. I told him that we didn’t need to do that. Also, NDPHC is a generation and not a distribution company.

“We were already telling people that within one month, there would be electricity. The only problem was to repair the vandalized transformer in Ore (which would belong to BEDC as the letter said) so if Odigbo is out of it, then we must sit down and talk.

He said the committee met with the DISCO and they still insisted on giving OSSD to NDPHC if they agree otherwise, we come back to our own. He was thinking about profit. They wanted us to help them collect some millions of naira they said we owe them. How do we go to people that have not had electricity for 15 years to pay the money they are owing?

I asked them to restore electricity first and we would be collecting the money little by little.’ They said no.

Legal option: The hope of having electricity in this area is becoming very dim but I told the MD that since they are not ready to listen, we want to test the law. NERC says they should pay me N1,000/day for the number of years they denied me electricity. Two, the law says they cannot disconnect us beyond three months and after three months, we can go to NERC to ask for independent distribution licence. We want to approach the court and ask for an order of mandamus to compel NERC to obey their laws and regulations.

Nobody is ready to obey the law in Nigeria and everybody believes that judges can be bought; not all judges are without conscience.

The OSSD Power Committee later wrote a letter to NERC on the danger of repeated abandonment of the new 33kv line as it could be vandalized again. “We have it on good authority that the management of BEDC Electric Plc is about to take over from TCN the new double circuit 33kv lines from the new 2x40mva, 132/33kv Erinje Substation to Okitipupa and Ilaje. This means there will be no light for a long time to come.” They called on NERC Management to be decisive on the license being sought and the temporary permit being requested. “We are hereby asking for an update on the position of the application with NERC,” the committee stated.