Workers doubtful on gas supply promise

The National Union of Electricity Employees has expressed despair over the Nigerian Gas Company’s (NGC) ability to supply steady gas to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to achieve the 6000MW targets by December.

But Voka Mukoro, acting coordinator of the gas company, on Monday in Lagos, said the company has commenced repairs on its gas pipelines vandalised by militants in Delta State.

He said on completion of the repairs; about 200 million standard cubic feet (scf) of gas would be supplied to PHCN daily, to boost nationwide power supply. The repairs are scheduled to be completed in two weeks.

However, Joe Ajaero, the secretary general of the electricity employees union, told NEXT in a telephone interview, “We can’t talk about something we’ve not seen. If they supply gas today and generation does not improve, then we’ll have to start looking for the problem.

Definitely, we can no longer use the excuse of gas since they say in two weeks; let’s wait for the two weeks.”

Counter-arguments

While Mr. Mukoro blamed the activities of militants in the creeks of the oil-rich Niger Delta for the vandalised pipelines that have resulted in poor power generation and distribution in the country, Mr. Ajaero, thinks the bulk of power generation should not come from the gas power plants.

The electricity workers had threatened strike to drive home their demands, some of which are over-dependence on gas, improved pay package, uncompetitive tariff structure for the industry, and the lopsided power purchase agreement with gas suppliers Shell and Agip.

“The issue is that if there’s gas, fine, but gas power stations cannot be our major source of power. They’re emergency stations,” Mr. Ajaero said. He added, “we should develop other sources like hydro, coal and others. And then alongside these gas stations, they’ll complement one another.

But if we depend on gas, there’s bound to be shortcomings. There will be problems because they [NGC] may supply this gas for the next three to four months, or even a year, and then when there’s shortage, it will affect everything.”

Power status

Nigeria’s economy requires at least 10,000MW of electricity. But since the inception of the Yar’Adua-led presidency in May 2007, power generation has alternated between 1,700MW and 3,000MW.

This has prompted a presidential mandate to attain and sustain power generation of 6,000MW by December 2009.

However, electricity workers noted that based on the current transmission and distribution infrastructures in the country, delivering the much needed megawatts will be difficult, as the infrastructures are weak.

“For now, they can’t generate 6,000MW, but they (government) say they’re working on it. If that’s true, that means they’re listening to us.

By December, if they’re able to generate 6,000, transmit 6,000, and distribute 6,000, it means they have worked on them. December is the date, by December, we’ll know if they’ll fulfil their promise,” Mr. Ajaero said.