The amount of misinformation in the media today is terrifying. And even more worrying is the fact that most Nigerians seem not to look for facts. The poor quality of thinking out there beggars belief. One such recent misinformation that has caught my attention is the way the seeming improvement in power supply has been credited to our recently inaugurated President.

First and foremost, the power sector has long been privatized to a large extent, except for transmission and pricing. It is therefore incorrect, to a large extent, to credit any improvement in the sector solely to any seating government.

The key driver for the sector is natural gas supply and most people do not get it. Eighty per cent (80%) of the power generated in Nigeria comes from thermal stations with only twenty per cent (20%) coming from hydroelectric stations. Hence a lot depends on natural gas supply:

The power sector has always had the issue of inadequate gas supply to the thermal plants either through vandalism of our gas pipelines or a complete lack of supply. The local supply of gas has always been inadequate due to the existing arbitrage opportunity between local and global natural gas prices. Global gas price has always been higher making it more profitable to export gas. The price for gas in Nigeria is regulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). For a long time, natural gas price was fixed at $1.5 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) while international gas price has hovered around $3.6 MCF peaking at $5.0 MCF in early 2014.

The Federal Government in December 2014 announced an increase in the price of gas to $2.5 per MCF effective from January 1, 2015. Coincidentally, the global price of natural gas started tanking in November 2014 and currently sells at $2.68 MCF. This explains the boost in local natural gas supply to our power generating stations, hence the improvement in power generation to about 6,000 megawatts (MW) while we transmit only about 4,800 MW. However, this is still far from adequate as Nigeria’s power need is closer to 20,000 MW. The seeming improvement in the experience of power supply is as a result of power consolidation in a few regions like Lagos and Abuja – ideally this is how it ought to be. But as a direct result, some other regions in the country are currently experiencing less power supply as.

Has power generation increased?
Yes it has “slightly” increased.

Does the seating president have anything to do with it?
The improvement is largely due to improved gas supply due to market forces pushing global prices south and NERC reviewing local gas price upwards. But since the revision has done even before the current president was sworn into power, the answer is a “No”.

Do we now have adequate power supply?
By all means “No”. We are generating just about a fourth of our current power need which will grow by twenty per cent (20%) every 3 to 4 years in line with growth in per capita income.

Source: http://emekaenwere..com.ng/2015/09/of-recent-power-supply-improvement-in.html