NO doubt, the federal government has been making frantic efforts to nip the seemingly intractable problems of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in the bud. Much money has been injected towards the resuscitation of the power authority’s antiquated infrastructure without corresponding result.
In the last six years, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria received a whooping sum of N244 billion from the federal government to improve power supply but all to no avail.
The President, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, Godwin Ifeanacho, who made this disclosure to journalists recently in Abuja, said the amount was used for the refurbishment of dilapidated power infrastructure from 1999 to date.
According to him, the funds helped in pushing up the generation capacity from 1, 600megawatts in 1999 to 3, 600mw in 2006.
“Today, we have the capacity to generate 3, 600mw but the major concern that is worsening power supply is the spate of vandalism of pipelines in the Niger Delta”, he said.
But Nigerians have not stopped lamenting the frequent power outages across the country. “Electricity supply and distribution have become a political tools in the hands of greedy and ambitious politicians. They make empty promises”, said a Lagos-based business centre operator, Samuel Akande.
Also recently, the federal government announced that it would commit a total of N80 billion to the purchase and installation of new injection substations across the country as part of implementation of the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP). The Adviser to the President on Electricity Power, Engineer Joseph Makoju, who made this disclosure in Abuja, said the money would be spent on improving the distribution network.
Makoju said there are two major projects being implemented with the aid of the World Bank. According to him, the World Bank has also extended further facility in form of National Electric Development Project, which is perhaps making the greatest impact in effort to commercialise the power sector.
World Bank is funding the transmission in development project at the cost of $100million while the National Energy Development Project is gulping $72 million.
Under the new initiative, the federal government will be expected to spend $40 million to upgrade power distribution facilities in Karu, Nyanya, Maraba and Kubwa in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Ogba, LUTH area, Idi-Araba, Agege in Lagos State, and Ibadan in Oyo State.
It will be recalled that upon assumption of office in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo assured Nigerians that the epileptic power supply would be a thing of the past. Ironically, eight years into his administration, the problem of electricity supply and distribution have grown from bad to worse across the country. Both government officials and workers of the PHCN have heaped the blame on militants in the Niger Delta area for tampering with gas pipelines.