GOODLUCK ISSUES SIX MONTHS ULTIMATUM TO ELECTRICITY SECTOR MANAGERS

President Goodluck Jonathan has issued an explicit ultimatum to
managers of Nigeria's electricity sector, especially the Ministry of
Power to as a matter of urgency ensure that the electricity generated
is effectively transmitted and distributed across Nigeria within the
next six months.
Currently, Nigeria has a total installed generation capacity of
6,976.40 megawatts (MW) with expectations of upward expansion from the
National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).
However, the country often transmits less than 4,000MW, leaving most
consumers in towns and cities nationwide in darkness for long hours.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who yesterday in Abuja
spoke on the president's latest directive to stakeholders in the power
sector, stated that the president had asked that results of
government's reforms in the power sector must become palpable to
Nigerians across the country by June this year.
Nebo relayed Jonathan's directive when he formally inaugurated the new
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Transmission Company of
Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Ibrahim Waziri, who takes over from the company's
erstwhile chairman, Hamman Tukur.
Tukur was said to have voluntarily resigned his position as the
chairman, thus paving the way for Waziri's appointment.
Waziri, by his reported know-how in top management positions of key
economic sectors, has been asked by the government to swiftly turn
around the fortunes of TCN starting with the execution of key projects
to reduce technical and non-technical losses from the transmission
grid.
While speaking on the six months target given by the president, Nebo
said: "Let me restate that the nexus between availability of power and
the socio-economic development of our great nation cannot be
over-emphasised.
"The resolution of the problem of inadequate power supply to our
people has continued to receive the full attention and support of
President Goodluck Jonathan.
"While we celebrate the unprecedented success so far recorded in the
reform of the power sector, the yardstick by which consumers measure
us is the availability of electricity at the last mile to our homes
and businesses.
"I wish therefore to charge all the principal players here today to be
committed to ensuring that power supply to our customers is
significantly and visibly improved by June this year as already
directed by Mr. President.
"Much is expected of us all and the entire nation is waiting for us.
The significant investment of the federal government in both material
and human resources must translate into improved service delivery
during the year.
"Government will no longer tolerate any excuse of non-performance from
any of the sector players from both the ministry particularly and our
new private sector partners."
On the new owners of the legacy assets, the minister told them that
the ministry and other agencies of government would not hesitate to
invoke all relevant clauses in the agreement divesting ownership of
the Gencos and Discos to new investors.
"Nigerians must, I repeat, must enjoy the dividends of the reform
programme and no one will be allowed to frustrate this vision of Mr.
President. We are not going to accept projects to 'chop money' or
'share money'. We are in a paradigm shift now and it is no longer
going to be business as usual, but business unusual.
"The process is such that we must only do projects that will add value
to our reforms and not white elephant projects," Nebo charged Waziri
to ensure that TCN delivers on its roles in the Nigerian Electricity
Supply Industry (NESI).
"To the new chairman and board of TCN, I specifically wish to draw
your attention to the critical role of the national grid in a
deregulated electricity industry.
"The risk of non-performance by TCN affects not only existing IPPs
(Independent Power Plants). and Discos, but also nullifies all our
efforts towards creating a conducive investment climate for the
sector.
"You must therefore drive the management towards creating a national
grid capable of reliably and efficiently evacuating all generated
power nationwide.
"The board is also expected to ensure that only prudent investments in
transmission lines and substations are approved for implementation.
This is no time for projects with only fringe benefits to the national
economy," he said.
Meanwhile,it has been learnt through a top government source that
Tukur, whose tenure was reported to have been enmeshed in controversy,
had decided to throw in the towel because he was alleged to have
lacked the capacity to deliver on his responsibilities.
The source also hinted that Tukur allegedly failed to infuse the
spirit of camaraderie into the board, adding that this was needed to
supervise the operations of Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) in
managing TCN.
He was also said to have refused to report to the power minister when
he was appointed and had made it clear that he was only answerable to
Vice-President Namadi Sambo.
"I must tell you without mincing words that the change is what is
required at this point because government, which had prior
intelligence reports on the activities at TCN, decided to do the
needful.
"It was stated that he (Tukur) voluntarily resigned but I can also
tell you that he discovered that he lacked the capacity to do the job.
"He couldn't keep his team together and that was critical to achieving
the key deliverables that were set for Manitoba. At this point, we are
not even sure that the expected knowledge transfer from Manitoba to
indigenous staff of TCN has started to occur, so he couldn't
coordinate his team and had no knowledge of what was expected of him
especially in dealing with the private sector," the source disclosed.