Solving Nigeria’s energy problem

Over the years, all efforts at resolving Nigeria’s power problems have met with spectacular failure. Huge amounts spent on the sector seem to go down some bottomless drain as poor electric power generation and supply remain the bane of the manufacturing sector and a drain on resources. Many companies, unable to cope with the high cost of doing business in Nigeria,have relocated to neighbouring nations, while others have simply shut down,driving more people into the labour market. Worse, no one has yet quantified the damage to our health and to the environment by the millions of generators that threaten to overwhelm the country with noise and fumes.

It’s mostly about corruption. Our failure to generate enough power to meet even the modest target of 6000 megawatts that the government has set for itself by December this year is largely due to corruption. So far, both the Senate and House committee chairmen on power and steel and some of their colleagues have been charged to court for attempting to defraud the government of 6billion from rural electricity projects.

However, apart from fraud, there is the absence of a creative way of solving problems; the reliance on old, archaic methods that have failed consistently. One sure way out of the albatross would require the exploitation of our massive deposit of coal, which lie beneath our soil. This has succeeded in solving the power problems in many countries at what amounts to a cheaper rate,at least in the long run.

Nigeria has a coal reserve of some 2.7 million tonnes, which has the potential to produce between 10,000-15000 megawatts of electricity. This rich resource has been largely ignored by governments overtime. In the same manner, uranium deposits, confirmed in six states of the federation and used by more advanced countries to produce electricity, have not been exploited by our leaders.

By some estimates, Nigeria loses some N7billion annually as a result of the intractable power supply. We believe it is high time that every avenue is explored towards resolving the electricity crisis in the country as the consequences become insupportable by the day.

While we commend companies like Savannah Sugar and Ashaka Cements for their efforts at exploiting the hidden potential of sugarcane and coal respectively to generate electricity, we must note that this is hardly enough. Power generation, of the sort Nigeria needs today, not only requires huge financial outlay, but a guiding philosophy by the government which must provide the platform and the resources. Giving the appalling situation that we have found ourselves, the government must urgently begin to look into the latest clean coal technology while at the same time making concrete efforts to develop uranium to increase our electricity output.