Wallie:

Contract and train Nigerians like they’ve been doing over the last several decades with nothing to show for it? How can you keep doing the same thing and expect different results? Even the government knows that help is needed to break the current cycle!

1. Between 1999 and 2007 Nigeria spent $15 billion on power. Can you please show me the result?

2. It is estimated that Nigeria will need about $10 billion yearly to meet the current power needs. Where exactly is the money going to come from? Out of which budget? As it is, the current government is getting rid of the fuel subsidy because it is putting a strain on the economy and you want them to make a $10 billion yearly investment? How much exactly do we earn from oil, yearly?

3. Lastly, I would say “what's more pathetic is seeing people who take overly simplistic views on issues!”

I will ignore your last statement for the sake of having a civil conversation. Are you saying that since GEJ has been in power , he and his cronies have not stolen as well as wasted more than $10billion dollars on irrelevant things e.g ?

Are you saying there no “QUALIFIED” Nigerian professionals that can be trained to perform well in the power industry?

Where will the money come from you ask, where does the money this cabal embezzle come from?

Like i said in my statement, it does not require rocket science just commitment. There is nothing simplistic about my view except that in Nigeria even the simplest things can be made to look like the most complicated thing on GOD’s earth. That is the Nigerian way. Small countries with little resources in Africa light up their country 24hrs a day but Nigeria will all it’s resources and intellectuals can not light up 25% of homes in the small towns.

We have one of the largest gas reserves in the world but our Lecturer President and his Professor Minister can not do anything with it. To them it is rocket science to use our Gas reserves to light up people homes.

We hire all these undeserving professors year in year with no result. Well the fact is there is no real commitment to the cause , just a hogwash tactic to keep fooling the sheepie masses. If I were in charge of the Ministry of power ,I will make visible and effective strides within 6 months. Action speaks louder than word and press conferences. We see all the BS stories and the dribbling has gone on for too long.

Gej and his team are a bunch of idiots who have no clue about how to change a tire talkless of fixing power, a student from yaba college of technology will provide better ideas than this Professor in power.

playmode:

I will ignore your last statement for the sake of having a civil conversation. Are you saying that since GEJ has been in power , he and his cronies have not stolen as well as wasted more than $10billion dollars on irrelevant things e.g ?

Are you saying there no “QUALIFIED” Nigerian professionals that can be trained to perform well in the power industry?

Where will the money come from you ask, where does the money this cabal embezzle come from?

Like i said in my statement, it does not require rocket science just commitment. There is nothing simplistic about my view except that in Nigeria even the simplest things can be made to look like the most complicated thing on GOD’s earth. That is the Nigerian way. Small countries with little resources in Africa light up their country 24hrs a day but Nigeria will all it’s resources and intellectuals can not light up 25% of homes in the small towns.

We have one of the largest gas reserves in the world but our Lecturer President and his Professor Minister can not do anything with it. To them it is rocket science to use our Gas reserves to light up people homes.

We hire all these undeserving professors year in year with no result. Well the fact is there is no real commitment to the cause , just a hogwash tactic to keep fooling the sheepie masses. If I were in charge of the Ministry of power ,I will make visible and effective strides within 6 months. Action speaks louder than word and press conferences. We see all the BS stories and the dribbling has gone on for too long.

Gej and his team are a bunch of idiots who have no clue about how to change a tire talkless of fixing power, a student from yaba college of technology will provide better ideas than this Professor in power.

The snotty last statement I made was in direct response to your first sentence in the post that I responded to because I felt it was equally snotty; however, I do see that that might not have been your intention.

Funny thing about your post is, I do agree with you 100% except for the last paragraph. There’s nothing spectacular in generating, transmitting, and distributing power except in Nigeria, fraud, tribalism, cronyism and inefficiency makes the simplest of tasks impossible.

Why allow the same “incapable” government(s) to try to revive a sector that they’ve systematically killed over several decades? If they can do it, they would have done it.

To answer your question – yes, there are qualified people with the ability to run the industry but most of the people in charge are either corrupt and/or incompetent.

The gas reserves thing will need a lot of money to bring to fruition. We need an economical way of transporting gas to where it’s needed. And the most economical way of transporting gas is through underground pipes but I cannot trust the Nigerian government with 10 kobo as a down payment for laying the pipes. This is a great area for private public partnerships.

Note that when I say Nigerian government, I’m also including all those in power to make a difference (federal, state, and local).

I'm a bit skeptical about the news coverage from our local media. First, I was surprised that the news is not on GE's website - which publicly quoted company signs a $10bn deal and wont have the news on their website? Even a company of GE's size would publicize it to boost their share price.

Secondly, foreign websites are stating that the GE MoU is only a portion of the $10bn being quoted here. See AFP and Wall Street Journal links below. Anyhow, it is still good news. We just need some more clarity on what exactly was signed.

AFP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gkB4p-RCYJt6v9DfWzKgWwPv01dg?docId=CNG.240293873839341d8564887ab0292813.211
LAGOS — Nigeria and US giant General Electric have signed a deal aimed at sharply boosting power generation in Africa's most populous country where electricity blackouts occur daily, GE said Monday.
The five-year memorandum of understanding signed on Friday between Nigeria's power ministry and the company seeks to promote private investment in power projects, according to GE.
Details remain to be worked out but the deal includes "the potential for GE and the government to take minority equity positions in viable projects, where GE would supply power generation technology and services.
"The government of Nigeria has publicly set a goal of $10 billion in new power infrastructure projects," a statement from GE said.
"However, the MOU does not outline investment amounts or commitments. GE will potentially invest 10 percent to 15 percent in individual projects."
Nigeria's government has laid out a plan to privatise electricity production and distribution in order to address power shortages in Africa's largest oil producer.
It aims to do so in large part through the construction of new power plants, particularly those fired by natural gas.
The country's electricity infrastructure is woeful despite its oil wealth, with businesses and wealthy residents investing in large and expensive generators to supply power.
Nigeria, with its 160 million population and substantial deposits of oil and natural gas, has long been seen as having huge potential but has been held back by deeply rooted corruption and mismanagement.


Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/APf45a17462f174201bb59dd124e59deaf.html
LAGOS, Nigeria — General Electric Corp. said Monday it signed an agreement with Nigeria's government to potentially build and operate power plants in the electricity-starved nation amid a push to privatize the failing state-run power company.

GE said the five-year deal is part of the oil-rich nation's ambitious plans to sell off its Power Holding Company of Nigeria PLC. Citizens widely joke the company name stands for "Please Have Candles Nearby" in a nation where businesses and the wealthy rely on gasoline and diesel generators.

But confusion already surrounds the deal. Local press quoted Power Minister Bart Nnaji as saying the GE agreement would be a $10 billion deal. GE denied that, saying they would only be one company potentially taking part in the effort.

GE would help build and operate the power plants, taking a 10 to 15 percent interest in the business, the company said in a statement given to The Associated Press on Monday.

"This will go a long way towards boosting energy supply for Nigeria," the statement quoted Jay Wileman, president and CEO for GE Energy in Africa, as saying.

Revamping the state-run power company will take billions of dollars and many years in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with more than 160 million people. President Goodluck Jonathan made fixing power problems as a major goal of his administration.

However, the effort to find companies and set up the privatization process has been repeatedly delayed. That has led some to worry the effort could end up as a failure like a push to privatize the former state-run telephone company. After delays and bidding breakdowns, the government announced it would simply liquidate the firm's assets.

Wallie:

Contract and train Nigerians like they’ve been doing over the last several decades with nothing to show for it? How can you keep doing the same thing and expect different results? Even the government knows that help is needed to break the current cycle!

1. Between 1999 and 2007 Nigeria spent $15 billion on power. Can you please show me the result?

Nigeria did not spend $15bn on power between 1999 and 2007. The projected TOTAL cost of the NIPP project initiated by Obasanjo in 2004 was $15bn. The project was however stalled by the Yar'adua government and has still not been completed. As at the time the suspension happened, $2.8bn had been spent on building the power stations and buying long lead items.

This is just another example of the blatant misinformation that goes on whenever the power sector gets discussed in Nigeria. http://www.nidelpower.com/main/index.php

With that cleared up, this argument that you need ‘help’ from GE to ‘break’ this cycle is a non-starter.

What you need is a stable legal framework that allows private entities to come in, build and own their own power generation facilities and make profits off it, after you’ve provided the basic elements they require to set up.

The government should instead be focusing on building gas pipelines as well as making sure IOC’s have a domestic supply obligations inserted in their contracts so all sufficient gas is available for local power generation and not all contracted to foreign buyers.

GE will sell you all the parts you want, like they did previously - remember the NIPP parts that were sold off at the ports?

debosky:

Nigeria did not spend $15bn on power between 1999 and 2007. The projected TOTAL cost of the NIPP project initiated by Obasanjo in 2004 was $15bn. The project was however stalled by the Yar'adua government and has still not been completed. As at the time the suspension happened, $2.8bn had been spent on building the power stations and buying long lead items.

This is just another example of the blatant misinformation that goes on whenever the power sector gets discussed in Nigeria. http://www.nidelpower.com/main/index.php

With that cleared up, this argument that you need ‘help’ from GE to ‘break’ this cycle is a non-starter.

What you need is a stable legal framework that allows private entities to come in, build and own their own power generation facilities and make profits off it, after you’ve provided the basic elements they require to set up.

The government should instead be focusing on building gas pipelines as well as making sure IOC’s have a domestic supply obligations inserted in their contracts so all sufficient gas is available for local power generation and not all contracted to foreign buyers.

GE will sell you all the parts you want, like they did previously - remember the NIPP parts that were sold off at the ports?

You are right that $15 billion wasn’t spent based on what the government claims. The $15 billion figure was from articles I read from Nigerian Newspapers. I guess you can say that I bought into the misinformation but that still doesn’t change my conclusions.

Based on the presentation given by Prof. Bart Nnaji in June of last year, here are the official figures:
1. 1999 about $10 million
2. 2000 about $220 million
3. 2001 about $450 million
4. 2002 about $210 million
5. 2003 about $50 million
6. 2004 about $300 million
7. 2005 about $250 million
8. 2006 no data
9. 2007 no data

Total amount spent between 1999 and 2005 is about $1,490,000,000.
http://www.sec.gov.ng/files/Prof%20Nnaji%20Presentation.pdf



With regards to comments you made about “nonstarter”, there’s no doubt that the legal framework has to be there. Actually, it has to be the very first step; otherwise, investors will stand on the sidelines and the government recognizes the same. However, just like you said, you need private entities to run the power sector, which makes “GE”, a private entity, a “starter” to the argument.

Here comes my reason why you need companies like GE: who will finance the private entities to the tune of several billion dollars per year for the foreseeable future at an affordable rate? Keep in mind that the cost of borrowing the needed funds will be passed onto the consumers as private entities are out to make a profit. As it is, the electricity tariff has not even been raised to reflect the current market rate! Ultimately, the tariff will reflect the cost to upgrade the generation stations, transmission lines, and distribution lines.

The bottom line is that Nigeria needs access to all the cheap money she can get and that may mean getting a credit line from an equipment manufacturer like GE at a reasonable cost + equity.

Also, “pipelines” which relates to power generation is only part of the problem. You still need adequate and efficient transmission and distribution power lines. I would actually surmise that building pipelines might be the easiest of the problems facing the power sector.

Overall, I do not disagree with your post except for the nonstarter argument part. So I still stand by my comment about the government knowing that they need help to break the current cycle; otherwise, the government wouldn’t be soliciting private investors and would just pump the billions of dollars needed while keeping the status quo.


After all the grammar, I think that this is the time for “generation X” or seventies babies to take over a significant sector in Nigeria! We are too young rule Nigeria because our fathers and grandfathers no wan give way but we are better educated and technology savvy to pull off the power sector reform!