Raheem Akingbolu
The Chief Executive Officer of a power generating company, Century Power Generation Limited, Dr. Chukwueloka Umeh, has called on the federal government to take definitive and courageous steps towards diversifying Nigeria’s economy.
Speaking during an online interactive session with the media, Umeh said it was still unthinkable that despite the fact that Nigeria has the world’s ninth-largest deposit, it still grapples with power generation and distribution issues in spite of millions of dollars spent on foreign experts, countless committees, public-private stakeholder meetings, and so on.
He said: “In the face of the cyclic oil prices, we must now see a Nigeria without oil and immediately start diversifying to agriculture and manufacturing. In order to do this successfully, the gas and power industries need to be unshackled and supported to encourage substantial private investments and growth.
“Nigeria should essentially be a gas-producing country that happens to produce some oil. It is time to do things differently. We should stop the endless committee meetings, conferences and engagements.
“Pick a set of regulations, such as the ones that birthed the only project-financed power plant in Nigeria to date, Azura power, respect contracts and the rule of law to give local and foreign investors comfort, and just get it done.
“We have all the expertise we need to make the industry work, so let’s stop searching for the perfect solution elsewhere. Take whatever we have, and just make it work.’’
He said investors are not putting the much-needed resources into gas and power projects for several reasons, including constantly changing regulations, difficulty in enforcing agreements, ease of doing business, and unrealistic tariffs.
According to him, the federal government needs to relax its regulations enough to incentivise investors in gas and power sectors.
Market forces and competition should be allowed to drive gas and power tariffs rather than allowing the prices to be set by a regulator, he said.
He argued that government’s role should be limited to providing appropriate regulations that will catalyze private entities to drive the much needed diversification in the country.
He cited the example of several private estates in Lagos where steady, uninterrupted power is being supplied to as a result of the cost reflective tariffs that the residents pay, which is far less than what they would have paid to operate fuel or diesel generators with the related health and safety hazards they come with.
This, according to him could be replicated on a larger scale across the country if the companies within the entire gas and power value chain are allowed to work under relaxed regulations as well as charge cost-reflective tariffs.
Speaking further on the issue, Umeh hailed the federal government’s efforts so far to deregulate the power sector, but urged them to do more and do it with more urgency to help stem the alarming growth in unemployment rate in the country.
Umeh argued that once the power industry is working and adequate power supply is guaranteed, investors would begin to see the country as an investment destination.
“We must however understand that the privatisation of power does not guarantee immediate availability of power because it takes at least three years to build a power plant from ground breaking to actual generation. “Private companies should be encouraged and incentivised to build power plants as well as strengthen transmission and distribution networks knowing that their investments will eventually be recovered through cost reflective tariffs,” he added.
