President Yar'Adua: Meeting Nigeria’s Energy and Power Challenges

By

Abubakar Atiku Nuhu-Koko

 aanuhukoko@yahoo.com

Sunday, 15 July 2007

Nigeria must work out how to get adequate, stable and affordable electricity and energy supplies by 2020. However meeting the immediate energy challenge is not so simple. Therefore, the government must identity doable strategies for revamping power and petroleum products supply within the shortest possible time; at least, before 2015. Failure to achieve this fait will make the current clamour of making Nigeria to belong to the top 20 economically advanced nations by 2020 a pipedream. For example, according to official sources, now, nearly all Nigeria’s current electricity generating stations are producing less than 20 per cent of their installed capacities.

Furthermore, again, according to official sources, Nigeria imports 100% of its petroleum products as all its four petroleum refineries are out of production. The crude oil and petroleum products pipeline networks are also aged and vandalised. Therefore, without further dramatic changes and initiatives from both the public and private sectors respectively, we will be going backwards in terms of maintaining the existing outputs from the existing generating and refining facilities. Hence, ensuring adequate power and petroleum products supplies is a great challenge to President Umaru Yar Adua’s administration. This challenge, he has accepted to confront as an urgent national emergency and would be treated as such by his administration.

The Special Adviser to the President on Electric Power, Engineer Joseph Makoju, has said that the Federal Government had spent a total of USD6.3 billion from 1999 to date (July 2007) on power generation.[1] Many Nigerians have wondered why such staggering amount of money spent failed to make Nigeria swimming in excess electricity by now. Mr. Makoju further stated that if Nigeria must get to the level of South Africa in the area of power generation, the sum of $90 billion was required.[2] What this scenario exposes is that the emphasis is on capital spending in the management of the power sector in Nigeria. However, this is the wrong approach to solving the embarrassing problems militating against Nigeria’s power sector. The over reliance on mega spending on mega projects without any appreciable improvement in all aspects of electricity services is an indication that the government is wrongly advised and therefore should rethink this strategy.

The starting point in this direction is to rethink the strategies of supply of energy and power products and services on the one hand and consumers’ consumption habits and practices of energy and power products and services on the other hand. Therefore, what should be done under this urgent national emergency conundrum? The argument has always been that we cannot of course afford to consume less electricity and petroleum products as this will retard the growth of our development processes and wellbeing. It is in trying to confront this dilemma frontally, that President Yar Adua promised to declare “state of emergency” on the energy and power sectors respectively. However, there is yet no clear thought-out policy in this direction. Nevertheless, drastic policy actions need to be put in place now in order to make Nigeria generate adequate electricity and domestically produce petroleum products, as the challenges are just overwhelming, and the consequences of getting it wrong this time around are equally just too onerous and catastrophic. This means finding a place in our fuel and power mix for all the main competing technologies – including nuclear energy.

Continuing with the old ways of doing things from the immediate previous administration of ex-president Obasanjo will not only be ineffective, but unaffordable under this new dispensation of Yar Adua’s presidency. First, reliance on the existing systems of power generation and facilities will further expose the country to the risk of disruptions of electricity supplies. However, there are new types of supply chains that can be explored to diversify this risk to some extent across these new multiple sources of generation. For example, given the timeline on planning and construction, nuclear plant could be one of these new sources of supply of electric power to the nation’s national grid.

Once the decision is taken and adequate financing arrangements made, it can come on stream some time sooner than 2025. This shows that the power generation and supply issues in Nigeria may not be efficiently resolved by resorting to the usual quick fix or populist routes that most often turn out to be very costly solutions and more of than not counter-productive.

Second, for the short-term immediate solution to the national power supply tragedy, President Yar Adua should consider the option of working with all the States and Local governments in building where appropriate, small and medium sized diesel, gas, solar and wind powered power plants in all the 36 States and 774 Local Government Councils of the federation. This option allows for each tier of government to shoulder some modicum of responsibility to profitably generate and distribute power outside the national grid system to its locality.

Thus, the beauty of this option is that, it allows for each State and local government to take control and responsibility of providing the needed electricity within its borders according to its needs (i.e. demand), local source of electricity generation and social and economic sustainability respectively. This can be done in partnerships with interested private investors where applicable and feasible. Under this option, the federal government should provide matching grants and facilitate the importation of the heavy duty generating plants, solar panels, and wind turbines under the proposed national emergency on power supply.

Third, this option allows for integrating conventional (traditional fossil and hydro) and renewable (Solar and Wind) sources of power generation, thus benefiting from the synergy of both worlds. Furthermore, this option has the added advantage of creating new jobs, skills and business opportunities to the local economies and the national economy as a whole akin to what the telecommunication sector achieved when it was deregulated, liberalised and decentralised some years ago. This therefore calls for the re-establishment of State Electricity Boards, with both urban and rural components to supply and regulate electricity generation, transmission, distribution and retail. With this type of decentralised and devolved approach, Nigeria will substantially improve its power supply nationwide within a very short period, giving proper implementation strategies. While this is going on, the national grid can be put to shape; revamped, modernised and expanded by the federal government in partnership with the State governments and private investors. The current situation where everyone depends on only one provider of electricity nationwide is no longer tenable and is outdated. Therefore, for Nigeria to meet its short and medium terms sustainable needs of electricity supply nationwide, the Presidential national emergency on power supply agenda should consider the following alternative options outlined below.

The Renewable sources alternative[3]

The Presidential national emergency on power supply initiative should consider investing in renewable energy technologies like solar panels, micro-wind turbines, and biomass sources of power generation. These renewable sources of energy are becoming increasingly popular, reliable and sustainable power supply alternatives. For example, renewable energy technologies like solar photovoltaic and micro wind turbines are now used in many countries across the world as alternative sources of electricity supply and a veritable means to fight against global warming/climate change related problems. For instance, Germany generates 12 percent of its electricity from various renewables.[4]

Therefore, Nigeria should consider the Solar and other renewable non-traditional power generation alternatives to help boost power production and supply nationwide. These alternative sources and or options can work alongside energy generated from the conventional/traditional fossil fuels such as gas, oil, diesel and coal. Moreover, unlike fossil fuels they produce little or no carbon dioxide (CO₂): the harmful gas that is one of the biggest causes of climate change/global warming.

Solar, micro wind and micro-hydro power are effective alternatives to fossil fuels and will help Nigeria to meet its own short to medium term energy requirements and in addition, create large number of employment and help reduce the country’s carbon dioxide (CO₂): emissions. The sun (solar) and wind are great sources of natural energy and Nigeria has plenty of them. Both Solar photovoltaic (Solar PV) and Small or Micro-Wind Turbine Systems could be easily deployed in order to boost electricity supply in the short and medium terms in Nigeria.

My policy recommendation with regard to the critical energy emergency that Nigeria is passing through is that President Yar Adua should mandate the Ministry of Energy and Power in conjunction with the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), the Atomic Energy Commission, Electricity Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Energy Research Centres and other relevant public agencies and stakeholders with the responsibility of producing a blue print/roadmap for actualising the Presidential emergency on energy and power sectors. Well thought-out policy and implementation frameworks and strategies are urgently needed. The Ministry of Energy and Power should be tasked to do that. In doing that, the ministry should take cognisance of the following options and alternatives outlined below.

1. Solar photovoltaic (Solar PV)

This uses energy from the sun to create electricity to run appliances and lighting. PV requires only daylight, not direct sunlight to generate electricity and so can still generate some power on a cloudy day. Therefore, individuals, public establishments and companies can invest in this technology rather than fossil powered standby generating sets to secure independent power supply.

Photovoltaic (PV) systems use cells to convert sunlight into electricity. The PV cell consists of one or two layers of a semi conducting material, usually silicon. When light shines on the cell, it creates an electric field across the layers causing electricity to flow. The greater the intensity of the light, the greater the flow of electricity. PV cells are referred to in terms of the amount of energy they generate in full sunlight, known as kilowatt peak or kWp.

Suitable for home or office use: PV systems can be use for a building (e.g., a house or office) with a roof or wall that faces within 90 degrees of south, as long as no other buildings or large trees overshadow it. If the roof surface is in shadow for parts of the day, the output of the system decreases. PV arrays now come in a variety of shapes and colours, ranging from grey 'solar tiles' that look like roof tiles to panels and transparent cells that one can use on conservatories and glass to provide shading as well as generating electricity. Solar panels are not light and the roof must be strong enough to take their weight, especially if the panel is placed on top of existing roof frame.

Solar Community and Street Lights

There are a number of different solar powered lights available at the moment for use to provide street and community lighting. These lights are highly energy efficient and convenient as do not require external extension leads or special electric fittings. These lights contain solar cells which convert the suns energy into electricity. They charge up during the daylight and light up as it gets dark. They are not usually hugely bright but are less intrusive than electric lights and look nice for community lightning. For example, “one of the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) greenest towns is Woking, in Surrey. It began moving into renewables a decade ago and now has combined heat and power and fuel cell systems providing heat and electricity to many buildings in the town centre and 600Kw of installed solar PV – about 5 percent of Britain’s total.”

Costs and savings: Prices for PV systems vary depending on the size of the system to be installed, type of PV cell used and the nature of the actual building on which the PV is mounted. The size of the system is dictated by the amount of electricity required.

For the average domestic system, costs can be around £4,000 - £9,000 per kWp installed with most domestic systems usually between 2 and 2.5 kWp. Solar tiles cost more than conventional panels and panels that are integrated into a roof are more expensive than those that sit on top. For example, German Bavarian farmers, with large barn roofs and fields, are the biggest customer group for PV in the world according to a German PV cell company Q-Cells.

Additional advantages: Grid connected systems require very little maintenance, generally limited to ensuring that the panels are kept relatively clean and that shade from trees has not become a problem. The wiring and components of the system should however be checked regularly by a qualified technician. Stand-alone systems, i.e. those not connected to the grid, need maintenance on other system components, such as batteries.

The federal, state and local governments should fund via grants, to help with the costs of installing solar PV technologies in communities nationwide.

A Real Country-Level Example:

As mentioned above, Germany presently generates 12 percent of its national electricity need from solar energy. Compared to Britain, Germany has 200 times as much solar energy; Britain generates only 4.6 percent of its electricity from solar energy but the percentage is rapidly rising. Furthermore, “German solar PV power generators produce 50 percent (i.e., 2.5 gigawatts) of the proportion of the world’s solar PV power and is sky rocketing. Within 5 to 10 years this is expected to rise to 100-150 gigawatts and the market is growing 40 percent a year” For example, Freiburg, a German town of 200,000 people has almost as much solar photovoltaic (PV) power as the whole of Britain. Furthermore, Ulm, another German city has just overtaken Freiburg as solar capital of the world.

In addition, Germany has created a quarter of a million jobs in renewable sources of energy. For example, Q-Cells, the company that started making silicon PV in East Germany in 2000 with 19 staff has now 1,200 and expects by 2010 to have 5,000. The company is said to be one of the fastest growing companies on the planet and is the world’s second largest maker of PV cells, after Sharp Corporation of Japan.

How the Success Story was achieved

The secret of German success as reported by Ashley Seager in his article (widely used as a reference in this write-up) was German government support policy for solar power generation. Germany introduced an innovative tariff known as “FEED-in-TARIFF” (FIT). Under this tariff system, any one generating electricity from solar PV, wind or hydro gets a guaranteed payment of four (4) times the market rate – currently about 35p pence a unit - for 20 years. The advantage of this incentive is that it reduces the payback time on such technologies to less than 10 years and offers a return on investment of 8-9 percent. Moreover, the cost is spread by generating companies among all users and has added about one cent/kwh to the average bill, or an extra £1 a month.

According to Ashley, the Germans introduced the FIT in 1999 and tweaked it in 2004, since which time things have gone mad. FITS have now been adopted in 19 European Union (EU) countries, and 47 worldwide. Thus, German renewables firms are now world-beaters and the German economy has been strengthened, not weakened, by a rush into renewables. “The FIT gives German solar energy companies and customers a good basis for planning but also, makes them become more efficient and competitive.” Accordingly, “it is a win-win-win – for the industry, the government and individuals.” President Yar Adua should consider giving this a trial.

Renewables are sufficiently technically advanced to meet the world’s energy demands for clean energy in the coming decades as the technology is there and we do not need any great breakthroughs. Therefore, President Yar Adua should consider a massive shift to renewables in the coming months and years to make a difference in the lives of Nigerians, overall national security and the national space economy. This is sustainable and achievable with less than the huge amounts of money already spent for the sector by the federal government in the last decade. Therefore, in the scheme of things under the Presidential national emergency on power supply initiative, government should consider developing a proper renewables infrastructure for both short and long term electricity supply security.

Nigeria has the advantage of tapping from the wealth of existing experiences and examples worldwide. I strongly recommend the Germany model of renewables energy supply, with modifications to suite our own local peculiarities. The wind is also another abundant gift of nature that Nigeria is well endowed with that can be utilised to generate electricity. It is worthy of consideration in the scheme of things as well.

Pilot Trials: The federal government should consider pilot trials. This can be done by selecting Abuja, the federal capital city as the one of the cities to test the Solar PV power generation in Nigeria. All federal buildings in Abuja can be used to mount the solar panels. Other test sites can be selected particularly from the extreme northern part of the country on the basis of the intensity of the sun and clear cloud cover. Overseas site visits by top level officials from the Presidency and the Ministry of Energy and Power to both the German cities of Ulm and Freiburg - the solar capitals of the world is strongly recommended.

2. Small (micro) wind turbine systems

Most small wind turbines generate direct current (DC) electricity. Systems that are not connected to the national grid require battery storage and an inverter to convert DC electricity to AC (alternating current - mains electricity). However, wind systems can also be connected to the national electricity grid. A special inverter and controller convert DC electricity to AC at a quality and standard acceptable to the grid. No battery storage is required. Any unused or excess electricity may be able to be exported to the grid.

There are two types of wind turbines:

1. Mast mounted - These are free standing and located near the building(s) that will be using the electricity.

2. Roof mounted - This can be installed on house roofs and other buildings.

Benefits

Wind power is a clean, renewable source of energy, which produces no carbon dioxide emissions or waste products.

Suitable for homes, offices, community centre and rural electrification programmes. Individual turbines vary in size and power output from a few hundred watts to two or three megawatts (as a guide, a typical domestic system would be 1 - 6 kilowatts). Uses range from very small turbines supplying energy for battery charging systems (e.g. offices or in homes), to turbines on wind farms supplying electricity to the grid.

The following issues should be considered when thinking about small-scale wind turbine system acquisition and installation:

1. Wind speed increases with height so it is best to have the turbine high on a mast or tower.

2. Generally speaking, the ideal site is a smooth top hill with a flat, clear exposure, free from excessive turbulence and obstructions such as large trees, houses or other buildings. The landscape in the Northern Nigeria is very suitable for the development of “Wind Turbine Farms.”

3. Small scale wind power is particularly suitable for remote off grid locations where conventional methods of supply are expensive or impractical. This is suitable for rural electrification schemes.

4. Small-scale building-integrated wind turbines suitable for urban locations are also available to install in homes and other buildings. This is very suitable for urban and metropolitan electricity supply schemes.

5. That the electricity generated at any one time by a wind turbine is highly dependent on the speed and direction of the wind. The wind speed itself is dependent on a number of factors, such as location within the intended area of installation in the country, height of the turbine above ground level and nearby obstructions.

Therefore, ideally, there should be professional technical assessment of the local wind speed for a full year at the exact location where one plans to install a turbine before proceeding. In practice, this may be difficult, expensive and time consuming to undertake. Therefore, it is generally recommend that, if one is considering a domestic building mounted installation and electricity generation is the main motivation, then one should only consider a wind turbine under the following circumstances:

1. The local annual average wind speed is 6 m/s or more.

2. There are no significant nearby obstacles such as buildings, trees or hills that are likely to reduce the wind speed or increase turbulence

Costs and savings

Roof mounted: These cost from £1,500.The amount of energy and carbon that roof top micro wind turbines save depends on several things including size, location, wind speed, nearby buildings and the local landscape.

Mast mounted: Larger systems in the region of 2.5kW to 6kW would cost between £11,000 and £25,000 installed. These costs are inclusive of the turbine, mast, inverters, battery storage (if required) and installation; however, it is important to remember that costs always vary depending on location and the size and type of system.

Additional Advantages: Turbines can have a life of up to 20 years but require service checks every few years to ensure they work efficiently. For battery storage systems, typical battery life is around 6-10 years, depending on the type, so batteries may have to be replaced at some point in the system's life.

The federal government should fund/provides grants to help with the costs of installing small-scale wind turbine technologies.

Rational Electricity Consumption Saving Tips[5]

In addition to pursuing ways of increasing power generation capacity that are capital intensive and requiring long period of coming on stream, President Yar Adua should mobilise the Nigerian consumers to imbibe the culture of energy conservation by introducing energy efficiency measures. A sustained national awareness campaign on energy conservation and efficiency is needed as part of President Yar Adua national emergency on energy and power. The following suggested good housekeeping energy/power conservation and efficiency measures could help improve the present situation of incessant power outage because of lack of capacity. If put into practice by consumers, the present poor national power supply situation could improve substantially by eliminating wasteful consumption:

1. Don't Leave Electrical Appliances on Standby

Most people use the remote control appliance to switch off the TV or stereo, leaving the appliance running on standby. This actually means the appliance is still using up electricity and wastes a considerable amount of energy. By switching off at the main power button, or even the socket, one could be saving both energy and money. Items left on standby use up to 85% of the energy they would use if fully switched on.

2. Lighting

The following suggestions and recommendations are helpful guide to energy and financial savings: In most Nigerian homes, substantial percentage of the electricity bill is for lighting so energy saving light bulbs can cut costs considerably. Traditional bulbs waste a lot of energy by turning it into heat but energy saving bulbs work in the same way as fluorescent lights, the tubes coating glows brightly as an electric current passed through gas in the tube.

For example, “replacing traditional tungsten light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in the same fitting will reap a 75 percent energy saving as longer lamp life. An 8 percent energy saving can also be made by replacing T12 fluorescent tubes with lower wattage T8 triphoshor ones. Filament spot lights should go too, as they use between 30 percent and 80 percent more energy than low voltage tungsten halogen lighting or metal hallide discharge lighting.”

They may be more expensive to buy than traditional bulbs, but they are worth the investment as last over 10 times longer and use up to 4 times less energy. Where you would use a 100w ordinary bulb, you would only need a 20-25w energy saving bulb. With savings like this, changing bulbs throughout your house could really cut your electricity costs.

Therefore, no matter what type of lighting one is using, always turn the lights off when leaving a room. For example, turning electrical appliances and light bulbs for one hour is enough to make significant savings on electricity consumption and help beat global warming. The recent London campaign tagged “Lights Out London” where people were asked to switch of their lights, appliances and gadgets from 9pm to 10pm on June 21, 2007 is a very good public awareness campaign strategy. June 21, 2007 was the day which also welcomes the Summer Solstice - the moment at which the sun stays farthest north from the equator, creating the longest day of the year. The hour-long switch-off the light action was estimated to save 750megawatts (MWh) of electricity – 2 million light bulbs, enough to run 3,000 TVs for a year.”

This saved electricity can provide uninterrupted power to a medium sized State in Nigeria. In the case of Nigeria, since we do not even half enough to go round, an-hour switch-off a day during peak hours will be a big boost to the national grid.

According to the UK Carbon Trust, “lighting accounts for 40 percent of office’s electricity usage in the UK. By switching off lights when not in use or setting lighting controls to match demand, an organisation could reduce its bill by up to 20 percent and cut its carbon footprint. Also, by painting the ceiling and walls white and keeping blinds open, the reach “free” natural daylight will be maximised. Furthermore, to prevent glare, one should adjust the blinds so daylight is redirected on to the ceiling, which then reflects it into the room. In addition, one should move desks closer to the window in order to maximise the sunshine. These small but very important tips make a huge difference in electricity consumption and overall energy saving.

3. Economical Washing and Drying

For the very affluent Nigerians who have modern electrical washing machine and tumble dryer, these are two of the appliances in the home that use the most energy. One may not be able to cut down how often they are used, but one can make some small changes to how to use them that will help save energy and money.

When using the washing machine, between about 85-90% of energy is used just to heat up the water, therefore dropping the water temperature of the wash could significantly decrease the energy consumption. Over a year, by using a warm wash rather than a hot wash, one could cut consumption nearly in half.

Other tips for saving when washing are, one should only use the machine when having a full load and if one has to do a smaller wash, use the half load function. The spin on the machine may mean that more energy is used but by spinning clothes one is removing more excess water, therefore reducing the drying time in a tumble dryer.

4. Efficient Cooking

There are a few easy ways to save energy when cooking which can also speed up time spent over a hot stove. One should always use the correct size pan and when heating water, one should only use the amount needed so that the electricity is not burning unnecessarily to heat the excess.

If only using a small pan, then use a smaller burner. Boiling water in the kettle first will save the time the burner needs to heat the water and putting a lid on will help it come to the boil quicker.

When making a cup of tea, only boil the amount of water that you need. Boiling a full kettle unnecessarily is a waste of electricity.

5. Fridge and Freezer

The following suggestions and recommendations are helpful guide to energy and financial savings: The location of your fridge can make a difference to how energy efficient it is. Make sure it is out of direct sunlight and not close to the oven. It is best to keep it against an outside wall so that the heat it generates can escape easily and always make sure that there is a few inches space all around the fridge so that air can circulate.

Fridge and freezer should be defrost on a regular basis or whenever necessary. An iced up freezer will make the freezer work harder therefore wasting more energy than needed.

One should only set the fridge to as cold as one needs it and avoid keeping the door open for long periods of time as the more cold air that escapes, the harder the fridge has to work. One should check the seal regularly too as if it is damaged then cold air will be escaping also.

One should never put warm or hot food into the fridge as this will make the fridge work extra hard to try and keep cold; always allow food to cool down first. Another good tip is to defrost frozen food in the fridge as this helps to keep it cool as it thaws.

In summary, conservatively estimated, these sundry house keeping measures are capable of saving Nigeria over a quarter of the present electricity generation capacity if diligently and religiously imbibed by just 50% of electricity consumers in the country. In terms of money, the federal government will conservatively save over US$1bn yearly if these measures are put into practice and use. The saving can be use to modernise and expand existing supply capacity nationwide. A sustained national public awareness campaign on these measures will be a better investment than all the investments made by the federal government in the power sector from 1999 to 2007!

Last but by no means least on the power sector reform issues, President Yar Adua should consider the immediate review of the philosophy of the reform policies, vision, programmes, projects and activities in the power sector. In the light of this proposition, the Ministry of Energy and Power in partnership with the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and other related public agencies should be mandated to produce policy recommendations on Nigeria’s National Energy Security Philosophy and Vision. For instance, the ECN, in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders in the energy sector should articulate the blue print and roadmap of Nigeria’s set minimum national energy security and guarantee.

Furthermore, the respective roles, which the public and private sectors are expected to play in the nation’s energy sector should be outlined and well articulated. For example, the roles of all the major players in the sector such as the Ministry of Energy and Power, the ECN, the Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the newly established 18 power companies, the various energy research and development centres, and the private companies, etc must be clearly established and harmonised. In addition, the privatisation activities that took place in the sector may need a second look among others.

As for the energy sector, particularly the downstream domestic petroleum products sub-sector, I would repeat here, my recommendations and suggestions as contained in another related article I wrote recently. The recommendations and suggestions are relevant here. I articulated that since President Yar Adua’s pledged to restore and revamp Nigeria’s energy sector, there is the need to consider non-price induced energy savings measures that will attract both public and private sector support. These measures include massive public-private partnerships (PPP) investments in the following areas:

1. Mass transportation systems such as Buses and Coaches;

2. Development of modern Bus and Coach Stations nationwide just as there are modern Airport Terminal building facilities for elite travels;

3. Repair of existing national highways, bridges, and construction of new ones;

4. The development of new, fast and efficient passenger and goods rail and inland water transport systems;

5. Removal of the government initiated “bio-fuels” development programme from the NNPC. The “bio-fuels” initiative is better placed in a new independent entity in order to propel a faster and efficient development of the fuel mix;

6. Integration of renewable energy sources in Nigeria’s energy and power mix and

7. Good housekeeping measures to conserve energy, among others.

These measures can contribute to reducing petroleum products demand, improve energy efficiency, and thus reduce the vulnerability to oil price shocks. Furthermore, the measures will help reduce traffic congestions and cut carbon emissions. For example, coaches and buses are widely regarded as the greenest method of public transport, producing fewer emissions per traveller than trains or cars.[6] In addition, government and the private sector should make easy access to modern means of non-motorised communication systems and services such as terrestrial (particularly rural telephony) and mobile telephones, broadband internet access and postal services. These can drastically reduce the need to physically travel around using fossil fuel powered modes of transportation systems.

As for the vexed issue of the existing refineries and associated supply, distribution and marketing infrastructural facilities, President Yar Adua need to review all the privatisation exercises of government-owned refineries and associated facilities that were carried out by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), particularly those done in the last minutes of the previous administration of former president Obasanjo. Where there is the need to reverse any deal, this should be done in the national interest and not sentiments, emotions and or be driven by political vendetta. The overriding reasons should include national security interest, transparency and due process.

Furthermore, since the nation cannot wait until the market fundamentals signal to the private investors to commence building new refineries, public expenditure should be used to initiate the construction of modern refineries and laying of new oil and gas products pipelines in order to replace the existing old, decaying and seriously vandalised networks. This is to serve the pressing immediate needs of Nigerians and the national economy. This rather nationalistic approach is particularly favoured by the Nigerian labour interest group. For example, Issa Aremu, the one-time acting Secretary General of the NLC, writing recently in a newspaper column, is of the view that:

“At the centre of re-industrialization of Nigeria is governance. In any case, the government in the 50s, 60s and 70s industrialized Nigeria through direct intervention and appropriate policies. It is the government that must urgently get the refineries on stream. It is the government that must ensure product availability and supply. It is the government that must ensure level-playing field among operators in a manner in which some industrialists are not privileged at the expense of others in product supply. It is true that private sector is the engine of growth. But it is the government that must oil this engine for growth and development failure of which the engine of growth can knock.”[7]

This therefore, calls for the revoking of the sales of government-owned refineries and put them back to immediate public production under President Yar Adua’s proposed national energy emergency order. This has become inevitable since it may take up to four years to build and commission a new refinery and associated infrastructures. Private sector investors will not undertake such a national emergency aspiration.

In the light of the national aspiration of self-sufficiency and security of supply of energy products and services, President Yar Adua need to consider revoking the 18 Oil Refinery Licenses issued to the private investors many years ago, but have not broken grounds for constructing them. These revoked licenses should be re-issued to serious minded investors in an open competitive bidding process; accompanied with specific deadlines to show commitments and results. The same measure should apply to companies licensed to establish power generation plants under the Independent Power Production (IPP) arrangements.

President Yar Adua should set a Time Table and deadline within which the importation of petroleum products will cease completely and or drastically curtailed in order to progressively phase-in local refining production capacity. Therefore, the NNPC and the private importers of petroleum products should be weaned-off their insatiable hunger for fuels importation under a strict Time Table and deadlines set by the government in its proposed national energy emergency programme. Similarly, Time Table and deadlines should be given to the IPP licensees within which to commence production and distribution of electricity.

In addition, there is the need for the government to expand the scope of the mandate and objectives of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) beyond the upstream oil and gas sector activities by incorporating the downstream oil and gas and power sectors activities. Power generation is also an extractive activity therefore it merits been incorporated within the ambit of an expanded NEITI mandate. Making transparent the activities of the downstream oil and gas and power sectors activities may be the magic wand (panacea) for resolving the myriad problems besetting the sectors. For example, there is the need for the government to place in the public domain all the information regarding petroleum products importation and related activities. Information regarding companies and or individuals involved, where (origin) the products are imported from, all relevant costs of power generation and distribution, related to products importation, quality and specification etc. - all these information should be made available to the public.

Therefore, publicising the costs and beneficiaries of the present system of petroleum products importation will make the sector more transparent. Experience in Nigeria especially with the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) in the late 1990s suggests that if the public trusts the government to use the savings from reducing fuel subsidies responsibly, they are less likely to oppose the price increases. Thus, fuel subsidy reforms should be viewed in the context of strengthening governance, institutions, transparency, and public trust in government and government policies.[8]

Finally, President Yar Adua should consider the need to introduce legislation to proclaim all the existing and new physical infrastructural facilities for energy and power production, supply, distribution and marketing as “National Security Assets” and be so treated (irrespective of public or private ownership). These include such facilities as: oil and gas pipelines, flow stations, refineries, oil products jetties and storage depots, forecourts, pumping and metering stations, power generation plants and hydroelectric dam sites, power distribution and transmission pylons/the national grid network, transformers and sub-stations, etc. Telecommunications infrastructures are equally important under this proposition. The daily security and protection of these assets should be entrusted with the Nigerian armed forces and other arms of the national security services. The relevant governmental bodies; including the National Assembly and the private Oil and Gas exploration, development, power production and service companies should work out the modalities and institutional arrangements for the implementation and management of this proposition.

[1] Vanguard Newspaper (13 July 2007):“Nigeria needs $90bn to match S-Africa in power generation.” By Umoru Henry, posted to the web: Friday, July 13, 2007: (Accessed on Friday, July 13, 2007 at:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/nationalx/nr213072007.html).

[1] Ibid.

[1] Information in this section regarding costs and systems obtained from various industry and consumer advisory sources.

[1] Ashley Seager: “Green Power – Germany Sets Shining Example in Providing a Harvest for the World.” Newspaper Article published in The Guardian Newspaper (UK), Monday July 23, 2007, page 27.

[1] Information in this section regarding energy saving tips obtained from various sources, including The Carbon Trust (UK),  The Sun Newspaper (UK), Tuesday, October 24, 2006, page 6; Thursday, June 21, 2007, page 3. The Guardian Newspaper (UK), Monday, 23 July 2007 (Matt Keating: Media Guardian, page 2)

[1] The Courier and Advertiser, Monday, July 09, 2007 (Dundee, Scotland, UK): “Coach Company Proposing Business Commuter Service”, page 14.

[1] The Daily Trust Newspapers (Online edition, Monday, 09 July 2007): Column: Reflections with Isaa Aremu. “LPFO and the end of industry.” Posted to the web at: http://www.dailytrust.com/opinion.htm

(Accessed on Monday, 09 July 2007)

[1] For details, please see Baig, Taimur, Amine Mati, David Coady, and Joseph Ntamatungiro (March 2007, page 18) “Domestic Petroleum Product Price Subsidies: Recent Development and Reform Strategies.” International Monetary Fund (IMF) Working Paper No. WP/07/71. Fiscal Affair Department, IMF Washington, DC, USA.

[1] The Guardian Newspapers (Monday, 09 July 2007): Niger Delta crisis cost Nigeria 600,000 barrels of oil daily. Collins Olayinka and Lewis Asubiojo, Abuja

Posted to the web on Monday, 09 July 2007:http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article13

[1] New Age Newspapers (Online edition, Friday, 06 July 2007): “Creating a sane society: Imperatives of good governance and rule of law.” By Chief Gani Fawehinmi - Fawehinmi defines “rule of law simply as rules as against the whims and caprices of individual rulers or public officials. Therefore, according Fawehinmi, within the context of Nigeria, “the law is the totality of: (a) The Constitution (the fundamental law or the grundnorm). (b) Acts of the State House of Assembly. (c) Laws of the State Houses of Assembly. (d.) By-laws of the local government councils (e) Statutory instruments including rules, regulations, etc. (f) Judgments of courts. In addition, Fawehinmi also points that the fact there is government does not mean that there is good governance and the fact there is a Rule of Law does not mean that the law is good”(Posted to the web on Friday, 06 July 2007).