New Telegraph

Govs reject Electricity Bill, insist on decentralization

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has kicked against the moves by the Senate to amend the Electricity Act through the Electricity Bill.

 

The bill is due to be presented before the Senate today. NGF’s Chairman and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said in a letter to the Senate Committee on Power that the bill would deny the 36 states their constitutionally defined roles regarding generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, meaning it will re-establish as a centrally controlled electricity sector.

 

In the letter dated February 22, and copied the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Fayemi said the bill meant to repeal the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 will deny governors the opportunity to be heard, whether individually or through the forum. The letter was sent to Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Senator Gabriel Suswam.

According to the governors, electricity is not an exclusively federal matter, pointing out that “it is guided by the provisions of the Concurrent Legislative List”. They said: “Articles 13 and 14 clearly provide that the power to make laws for the generation and transmission of electricity are concurrent.

 

“Also, Article 14 reserves exclusively to the state, the power to make laws for the distribution of electricity within a state as it also does have the power to make laws for the generation and transmission of electricity exclusively within the borders of a state.

 

“We also wish to note that the National Electric Power Policy 2001, the only extant Federal Government general policy statement on the electricity sector, in Chapter Three, is very clear that the states and state governments are key stakeholders in the electricity value chain.”

 

Fayemi said the efforts made by states in the past to establish and sustain electricity markets of their own were frustrated by the Federal Government, not  ing specifically the efforts made by Lagos and Rivers states.

The governors added that Lagos, Edo Ekiti, Ondo and Kaduna states had already taken the initiative to enact policy statements and laws for the electricity sectors, while the 19 northern states had decided to establish a common platform for realising the benefits of the extensive renewable energy resources that their region is blessed with.

The group said: “While a single Electric Power Sector Reform Act may have been useful as a catalyst for the sector in the early years of the fourth republic, the states have all come of age, literally and metaphorically, and the arrangements must change in a way that accepts and respects the maturity of the states in electricity matters; a reality that this Senate Electricity Bill does not recognise and take account of but at best only pays the most cursory lip service.

 

“After 71 years of sole and unchallenged central control of the electricity sector, we live with an electricity sector divided into two parts, one part is the Federal Governmentcontrolled and regulated national electricity market that today is insolvent

 

bankrupt  and delivers no more than approximately 4,000MW/96,000MWh daily to 220 million Nigerians, or an average of 18w/432watthours daily, barely enough to power two 10-watt light bulbs a day.

 

“The other part of Nigeria’s electricity sector is the alternative/back-up market, whose estimated capacity is approximately 40,000MW, so much so that Nigerian citizens are their own electricity providers in their homes, factories, schools, hospitals and places of worship.”

 

Fayemi said the forum’s calculations were that if the 40,000MW of electrical back-up capacity owned and operated by Nigerians were to be delivered to them by licensed private IPPs and distribution companies through organised public electricity markets, Nigerian citizens and governments would have saved up to N17 trillion in 2021.

 

He said: “Instead, this much money was burnt up via diesel and petrol generator operating/maintenance costs, instead of being saved and invested by private citizens and businesses and some of it captured by the States and Federal Government as tax revenues and levies.”

 

Nigeria’s capital importation falls by 30.6% to $6.71bn provement, capital imports have not returned to their pre-pandemic run-rate of c.$5.0bn/ quarter, after falling to an average of c.$1.4billion between Q2’20 and Q3’21. The data are gross and not adjusted for capital exports.

 

“Other investments, which grew by c.56 per cent y/y to $1.2billion, mainly on the back of loans of $1.0billion, accounted for the largest share (54%) of total capital imported in Q4. On a q/q basis, other investments increased by 192 per cent q/q.”

The firm further stated: “Portfolio investments increased to $643million from a low of $56million in the prioryearquarter. Thestrong growth was mostly due to a marked (3,168% y/y) rise in money market investments to c.$559million as foreign portfolio investors elected for safe short-term instruments.

 

However, portfolioinvestment declined by -47 per cent q/q. “Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rose by 43% y/y to $$358million, the highest level since Q3 ’20. Their share increased to c.16 per cent of total capital inflow compared with c.6 per cent in Q3’21.” In addition, FBNQuest stated that “in terms of capital importation by business activity, the telecommunications sector was the leading source of capital inflows into the country at $646 million, up from $30 million in Q4’20.

 

This is not surprising given the sizable capital expenditure of major operators in the telecommunications sector.

“Capital inflows for the acquisition of shares, financing and trading activities were the next three top importers of capital into the country at $360m, $326m and $311m respectively.” He further said issues and obligations related to abandonmentanddecommissioning must be fully addressed and discharged in line with global best practices, regulations, conventions, and laws.

 

Kyari said: “Companies that are divesting, they are leaving our country literally and that’s the way to put it. But they are not leaving because opportunities are not here, these companies are shifting their portfolios where they can add value and not just that but where they can add to the journey of net carbon zero-emission. “We understand this very perfectly.

But also, we cannot afford to realize that this country must benefit from the realities of today. “We will work with our partners, we understand the necessity for their investments, we do know that there are issues, we understand that this must take place, but also it must be done in such a way that we are able to deal with issues around abandonment and decommissioning.

“We will also make sure that whatever arrangement that is put in place, will show that we are also alive to the energy transition journey that we have embarked on.” Kyari said, currently, the NNPC was adopting various strategies towards the attainment of a carbonneutral economy, while ensuring that the industry remains viable. He noted that the passage of the PIA remained a key enabler and laudable reform in the Nigerian energy sector, clearly delineating various stakeholders’ roles to enhance value realisation in the sector.

 

Okey Maduforo, AWKA Twenty-two thousand people have reportedly applied to work under Prof. Charles Soludo, expected to be inaugurated as Anambra State Governor on March 17. Early this month an online application form was launched as Anambra Talent Hunt inviting applicants to make available their personal data and job specifications, which expired yesterday.

The Media Assistant to the governor-elect Joe Anatune said as of Friday the number of applications received was 16,000 and that the report of 22,000 applicants as of Monday was possible. Anatune said the talent hunt is a kind of database that would be retained by the state government to identify the sector each applicant would be employed.

“This is not a one-off thing but a kind of employment bank or database from which applicants are engaged depending on the demand for such job specifications,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, Soludo will be wearing shoes made in Anambra to encourage the local manufacturers. Anatune said in a release yesterday: “Soludo is igniting the battle for the Ogbunike shoemakers in order to carve a good slice of the global footwear market currently at $565.5 billion.” Anambra: ‘Over 17,000

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