Senate, Power Ministry: Bickering over N10bn Varsities, Hospitals’ Solar Projects

The Ministry of Power and the Senate are bickering over implementation of solar powered projects in some universities and teaching hospitals across the country. Damilola Oyedele and Chineme Okafor write

Recently, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), under the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, drew criticism from the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy over its N10 billion solar street light project in 37 federal universities and seven teaching hospitals.

The project, is part of the Energising Education Programme (EEP) of the Federal Government aimed at rejuvenating the nation’s education system by providing uninterrupted power supply to the institutions.

The Managing Director of the Agency, Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi, had disclosed that the sum of N10,148,146,829.00, in the REA’s 2018 budget estimate was allocated to the item, which was listed as Rural Electrification Access Programme in Federal Universities.
The REA is already working in nine federal universities, to upgrade their supply of electricity.

Concerns of the Senators
A major grouse of the Senators, led by the committee’s Chairman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, was that the agency may be veering off its mandate, which is to provide electricity access to rural areas.
They also queried the timing of the project particularly as the power sector is already privatised by the federal government.

A member of the committee, Senator Mohammed Hassan, had also queried why the REA was expending the money to provide solar power for universities, when the rural areas, which it has mandate for, are still in darkness.
Abaribe’s opinion was that there may be better sectors to deploy such funds, if the agency had N10 billion to “play around” with.

The Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Senator Buka Mustapha, directed the agency to provides more detailed submissions about the project including how funding would be provided.
“Who is paying for the installations when the power sector had been privatised,” he queried.
The members also demanded the full list of the benefitting federal universities and hospitals.
Some of the lawmakers alleged that the distribution of the REA’s projects were lopsided, appearing to favor the South-South region with over 30 completed projects, whereas other regions had less.

REA’s Defence
Ogunbiyi, responding to the queries from the members, explained that the Federal Government had obligation to provide power in rural areas, where the universities are situated.
On the alleged lopsided distribution of the agency’s projects, the MD said it was determined by the nature, cost and variation of the projects. Some of the contractors handling projects in the northern region, have refused to return to site, until variation of the contracts had been done, she disclosed.

The beneficiary institutions in the first phase, according to her, are, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University – Bauchi, Bayero University – Kano, Usumanu Danfodiyo University – Sokoto, Federal University of Agriculture – Makurdi, Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Nnamdi Azikwe University-Awka, Federal University of Petroleum – Delta, University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University – Osun, and its teaching hospital.

“More than a mere street light project”
Responding to the description of the N10 billion project as a ‘mere streetlight project’ the Ministry of Power, in a statement said misrepresenting the project as a “mere “solar–powered streetlight project” belittles it and is outrightly un-patriotic.
The statement reads in part:
“Far from being a “streetlight” project, the EEP in fact seeks to rejuvenate the education system through electrifying a total of 37 federal universities and 7 university teaching hospitals, with Independent Power Plants (IPPS), which will boost effective learning, innovation and advancement through uninterrupted power supply,”

“In addition to helping to extend electrification to rural and underserved areas in which the institutions are located ultimately, the Programme will enable the institutions benefit from world-class training schools, for the training of students in renewable energy, as well as provide optimised security, for the safety and well being of students and staff, through the installation of streetlights on campus which is only a small component of the Project,”
“Although implementation of this programme is led by the power sector, through the Rural Electrification Agency, the Vice Chancellors and the Ministry of Education have signed onto this as a critical investment in the education sector,”

“The deliberate attempt to water down the significant impact this Programme will have on the enhanced education of Nigerian students is outright unpatriotic as it seeks to prevent the socio-economic development of our nation,”
“In addition to the open and transparent coverage of the milestones attained preparatory to the take off of the Project like the Meetings and signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the REA and the first set of participating tertiary institutions, the Ministry holds itself ready to provide further details to the media and any other interested entities to stem any further misrepresentation,” it read.

The Energising Education Programme (EEP)
The Energising Education Programme (EEP) of the government was adopted to take off 37 of the government’s universities and teaching hospitals from power supplies from the national grid, and make them to self-generate the electricity they need because, according to the government, it discovered that supplies to them had continued to remain erratic and subsequently impede their operations and offerings.

The government also said the EEP was thought up as a key component of its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (EGRP) and Power Sector Reform Programme (PSRP), and that it has divided its implementation of the EEP into two phases, of which the first phase would be implemented in nine universities and one teaching hospital.

According to it, an energy audit done by the REA indicated that about 224,800 people would benefit from the electricity that the first nine universities and one teaching hospital will generate in the initial phase of the EEP.
In a concept note on the EEP, the government stated: “Access to uninterrupted power supply in federal universities and university teaching hospitals in Nigeria has been cited as a major challenge and barrier to effective learning, institutional operations and student residency.

“Considering the role of education in economic growth and socio-economic development in Nigeria, the ministry of power, works and housing resolved to embark on viable projects that will ensure the availability of reliable, sustainable and affordable power to our tertiary institutions. This led to the conception of the Energising Education Programme.”
The EEP, it explained, “is one of the programmes designed to implement the energy access and sufficiency action point of the EGRP and it is also incorporated into the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved PSRP, as a vital component of the PSRP.

“The decision to seek a sustainable solution to this problem was also informed by the need to alleviate the burden of enormous costs borne by the federal universities in self-power generation which includes but is not limited to the high capital expenditure on diesel run generators.”
It noted that: “Due to cost implications and time constraints, the projects under the EEP cannot be implemented at the same time, therefore, the EEP has been divided into phases. Phase one was designed for the generation of 28.56 megawatts (MW) covering nine federal universities and one university teaching hospital across the six geopolitical zones.”