₦airaland Forum

Power plants across northern parts of the country are largely dormant despite huge investments running into trillions of naira, Daily Trust on Sunday investigations have shown.



From Abdullateef Aliyu (Lagos), Hamisu Kabiru Matazu, Olatunji Omirin (Maiduguri), Tijjani Ibrahim (Katsina), Ibrahim Musa Giginyu (Kano), Magaji Isa Hunkuyi (Jalingo) &Abubakar Akote (Minna)




The Federal Government in its quest to address the perennial power challenge in the country has over the years invested billions worth of naira in building power plants across the country to boost power generations.

However, despite the huge investments made on these power plants, many of them are yet to generate any significant megawatt to the National Grid, thus worsening the country’s power problem.

As of July 2023, the country power generation was put at about 3,970.33 megawatts, according to data collated from the National Energy System Operator; a semi autonomous unit of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). This is a far cry from what the country requires to meet its power needs.

According to the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Nigeria needs to generate about 33,000 Megawatts to have stable electricity.


ANED’s Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Mr Sunday Oduntan, who spoke in Yola at a stakeholders’ workshop organised in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation, said more needed to be done to boost power generation in the country.

Findings by Daily Trust on Sunday show that a number of these power plant projects have remained largely dormant while those which are said to have been completed are not functioning optimally or operating below expectation due to one issue or the other.

Niger

The Zungeru hydroelectric power project is the fourth hydroelectric dam in Niger State. The state already houses Shiroro, Kainji and Jebba dams that have provided electricity for the country.

The Zungeru hydroelectric power dam is said to be the biggest Nigeria’s hydroelectric power dam with generating capacity of 700 megawatts of electricity.

According to NS Energy, the plan to build the Zungeru hydroelectric power plant was conceived in 1982 but the project was not executed due to the lack of funds.

The project, which started in 2013, was being handled by the China National Electrical Equipment Corporation (CNEEC) and Sinohydro Consortium. The project was reportedly expected to be ready for commissioning in the first quarter of 2023 but wasn’t commissioned until Buhari left power.

NS Energy said the project gulped about $1.3bn investment with preferential loan facility from the Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) of China. While the Nigerian government provided 25 per cent funding for the project, the Exim Bank provided 75 per cent with low-interest loans.



Kano’s Tiga 10MW hydroelectricity set to solve twin challenge of water, security

Experts said the Zungeru hydroelectric power dam would produce about 2.64 billion kwh of electricity annually and would meet about 10 per cent of Nigeria’s total domestic energy needs.

The dam, if put to use, is also expected to generate huge direct and indirect job opportunities for over 2,000 citizens.


A former governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, said during a tour of the facility in May this year that the dam would, in addition to huge electricity generation, help in controlling floods, support irrigation and other farming activities.

Residents told Daily Trust on Sunday that the project, which was supposed to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2023, was yet to see the light of the day, putting the citizens on suspense.

On May 12, 2023, the project was said to have attained 98 per cent completion.

After a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Power of the 9th Assembly sometime this year, the former minister of power was invited to provide explanations on the status of the project.


Daily Trust on Sunday recalls that this prompted a visit by the chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Gabriel Suswan, on a fact-finding mission to ensure that Nigerians enjoyed the full benefits of the concession of the project.

In November 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria under Muhammadu Buhari called for bids for concession of the project to be managed for 30 years by the bidder.

Speaking to journalists after touring the facility, Suswam explained that members of the National Assembly had doubts about the concessioning of the project and did not want Nigerians to be shortchanged, adding that they started investigating the processes surrounding the concessioning of the project.


But he said they were satisfied with what they saw and would inform the Senate about their findings.

Senator Suswam also added that the project was ready to be commissioned as all components of the dam had been fixed.

A former Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, who commended the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration during the visit for sustaining and completing the project, said the type of the Zungeru hydroelectric power dam was last constructed in 1960.

“Kudos to the government of Muhammadu Buhari for sustaining the construction and completion of this project;700megawatts of electricity to the national grid is a huge success. The last time a big dam like this was constructed was in 1960,” he said.

He said the work had been completed and all necessary measures were being put in place at the National Council of Privatisation to tidy up the concession deal, with Mainstream Energy being the preferred bidder.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the Zungeru power dam has a height of 95m and is located on River Kaduna. It was also said to be the first dam to be constructed using the Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) technology.

Also, four of the turbines had been reportedly completed, each with 175 MGW. The dam also has four water spillways.

Daily Trust on Sunday also gathered that the 330KV Switchyard at Mararaba has been completed while the 132kv Tegina substation was ongoing as at May this year.


While citizens had high hopes that the hydroelectric power dam in Zungeru would ensure access to more electricity, the delay in putting the dam into use has almost dashed their hope.

A resident of Zungeru, the host community of the dam, Abdulaziz Yusuf, in an interview with Daily Trust on Sunday said, “We believe we would have more access to electricity if the project is put into use and it will provide the immediate communities opportunities to benefit from job opportunities and more.”

Residents of Zungeru confirmed to Daily Trust on Sunday that the project had been completed but had not been put into use, raising concern among the people.


Recently, some cables from the power station were vandalized. One of the Armored cables, according to police prosecutors worth N9.4 million was found in the possession of the first convict, Yusuf Anas while the other was sold at the cost N145, 000 by the convicts.

A Chief Magistrate Court in Minna sentenced Yusuf Anas (28), Olaore Joshua (23), Haliru Garba (40) and Musa Magaji to prison for vandalising cables at the Power Station.

Taraba

The Kashimbila hydro power plant in Taraba State was commissioned early this year by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The power plant, which was built on the Katsina-Ala River in Takum Local government Area of Taraba State, has 40 Megawatts capacity.

Electricity generated from the station is injected into the national grid through Yendev in Benue State and further fed to the transmitting line to supply power to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Plateau, Bauchi and Gombe states, a source told Daily Trust on Sunday.

Similarly, the plant is also supplying uninterrupted power to five local areas in southern Taraba, namely, Takum, Donga, Ussa, Wukari and Ibbi local government areas.

However, the other local government areas in northern and central senatorial zones are not benefitting from power generated in the station.


In all, the entire Taraba central senatorial zone is not linked to the national grid and not also connected to the Kashinbila hydro power plant, which is close to the zone.

Governor Agbu Kefas recently visited the power plant and promised to partner to exploit power being generated for the industrial development of the state.



Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the windmill farm is still where it was as there is nothing being done to move the project to completion.

Similarly, in March 2020, the federal government said it was set to commission the 10megawatts of wind farm.

The then Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, an engineer, who announced the development via a tweet, noted that the project was set for commissioning later in the month.


He listed the components of the project to include engineering, procurement, construction and installation of 37 Nos GEVMP (275KW) wind turbine generators, step-up transformers for each turbine 315KVA/33KV/400V, SCADA system (for data collection, performance monitoring, control and supervision).

Others, he said, were the installation of 2× 7.5MWA transformer and accessories, as well as two years of operation and maintenance of spare parts.

Its commissioning was scheduled for 2012 but it never happened. It also got millions of naira in annual budgetary allocations from the government.

When contacted, a Katsina State Government official who craved anonymity said the delay might not be unconnected with the fact that some aspects of the project were yet to be completed, adding that from what he knew, a substation was yet to be completed.


“It is essentially a federal government project now, so I am not in a position to say what exactly is delaying the commissioning. But I know that there is a substation through which the power will be transmitted to the end users after it is evacuated from the mill. That substation has not been completed yet,” he said.

He added that there were also some of the turbines that were vandalised, saying the federal government was probably trying to complete the project in its entirety before the commissioning.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the project, which if completed would generate 10MW of wind energy, has defied several completion dates and has so far gulped over N4.4billion in the last 18 years since its conception.

The project comprises the erection of 37 units of 275 kilowatt (kw) wind turbine generators mounted at a height of 55 meter on an inclinable tower to generate power from wind.

Kano Solar Plant

In Kano State, the power plant being constructed by the federal government is a 10MW solar plant constructed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). The firm is said to have completed the development and construction of a 10MW solar farm located at Kumbotso Local Government Area of the state on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Kano State Government, and Kumbotso Local Government Area respectively.

It was gathered that the NSIA was appointed by former President Buhari in a letter dated December 12, 2018 to assume the role of funds and project manager for the development and construction of a 10MW FGN/Kano solar project power plant.

It was also gathered that the project entails the installation and operation of a 10 MW solar power plant in the Challawa Industrial Area in Kumbotso as a demonstration pilot project to stimulate investment in the Nigerian power sector.

The project is sitting on a 24-hectare parcel of land that will cost US$16m and associated 12km energy evacuation infrastructure that will serve as the largest utility-scale solar farm in Nigeria.

The project commissioned, in January 2023 by Buhari, was designed to catalyse growth in the power sector as the plant demonstrates that large-scale-renewable energy projects can be successfully delivered in Nigeria.

The project will also provide access to clean, affordable and sustainable energy to local industries and other consumers. The solar plant will offer significant socioeconomic and environmental impacts. According to the project’s press contact Titilope Olubiyi the project had already created about 2,000 direct and indirect jobs within the immediate community.

Making his address during the commissioning early this year, the managing director and chief executive officer of the NSIA, Mr Aminu Umar-Sadiq said, “The NSIA believes that Nigeria’s renewable energy goals are attainable with consistent investment and development of projects, such as the Kano solar project. The project strengthens Nigeria’s standing in the battle against climate change, as well as supporting Nigeria’s pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060.”


A visit to the site of the project revealed that though there were only skeletal activities going on, one of the site engineers, Abubakar Musa told our reporter that the project is 96 per cent completed.

It was also observed that all the panels have been fixed, alongside other accessories required for the plant to effectively operate.

Energy experts said Nigeria was currently among the underpowered countries in the world despite her potential. The country is said to be shrinking in consumption of 80 per cent power below expectation in line with her current population and income levels.

Why power plants fail – Energy Experts


Energy Expert, Joseph Asanga said the commissioning of the projects were carried out without the projects being truly completed.

Asanga who is the CEO of GEC Energy Solutions Limited, described the problem as ‘a Nigerian thing’.

According to him, the projects would have catalysed into improvement in energy supply in the country if they had been commissioned when they are truly ready.

He tasked the new government to do a reassessment of power plant projects across the country with a view to ascertaining why they are not operational and what can be done to put the projects back to work.


He said, “ If they were really completed, why are they not working? There is no transparency in this issue. We just hear the project is being commissioned, if truly they were commissioned, we should have an improvement in power supply. Nobody knows the truth and we will continue to have these challenges except we are truthful to ourselves.”

Another Energy Consultant, Amaechi Nwachukwu, said, “What I can tell you is that it is an obvious Nigerian thing. A lot of people have made money building power plants but they were never intended to work in the first place. It was an avenue for siphoning government funds. If you want to build a power plant, first thing a reasonable Nigerian will talk about is where will I get my fuel, the gas to power the plants


“They built the power plants far away from the source of gas. They were built for political reasons. Maybe some people lobbied for power plants to be sited in their domain and got a permit to build them even though there is no future for gas in that area.

“The simple thing is corruption and wickedness. They had no intention of making them work. If you have an intention to make them work, you should have built the power plants close to the source of gas.”

He said alternatively they could have signed a gas purchase agreement with the gas firms.

“Even Dangote Refineries at the moment has no crude anywhere in Nigeria. Now it is begging the NNPC to supply crude.

“As we speak now, the crude of January, February next year has been sold. So they should have built the power plants close to the source of the gas. Even it is the same thing with hydroelectric plants.”

https://dailytrust.com/despite-huge-investments-fgs-power-plants-remain-dormant-i/

The US says there are “elevated threats” to major hotels in Nigeria’s “larger cities”.

This was contained in an emergency information for American citizens dated November 3.

The advisory said the Nigerian security agencies are working to counter the threat.

It said US citizens should exercise vigilance at major hotels, be alert to their surroundings, keep a low profile, and review the travel advisory for Nigeria before checking into any hotels.



“The U.S. Government is aware of credible information that there is an elevated threat to major hotels in Nigeria’s larger cities,” the notice reads.

“The Nigerian security services are working diligently to counter the threat.

“The U.S. Department of State advises U.S. citizens to consider this information when arranging lodging or visiting major hotels in Nigeria.”

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It also provided the addresses and telephone numbers of the US embassy in Abuja and consulate in Lagos should any US citizen require help.

In October, the US advised all its citizens worldwide to exercise restraint in travelling to various locations around the world. Nigeria was listed under the third tier of caution alert (Reconsider to travel).


https://www.thecable.ng/us-warns-citizens-of-terror-threats-in-nigeria-asks-them-to-avoid-major-hotels/amp

The acting comptroller general of the NIS, Caroline Adepoju, appealed during an interactive meeting with the Senate Committee on Interior.



Ms Adepoju said the NIS conditions of service were supposed to be at par with other sister agencies, especially concerning remuneration.





She, however, lamented the glaring disparity on what its personnels received compared to other sister agencies, saying this was discouraging and demoralising to personnels of the service.



“Our conditions of service for NIS personnel, in terms of remuneration, we are expected to be at par with the Customs Service, Nigeria Police Force, but our remunerations are poor and can not actually take us home,” said Ms Adepoju.



Ms Adepoju also decried the non-regular promotion status of its officers, noting that many of the personnel had stagnated on a particular grade level without promotion for many years.



The immigration boss also called for improved funding and logistics for the NIS to properly executive its mandate, like the provision of E-gate.



According to her, there is a need to increase the number of its personnel for adequate manning of the airports, sea and land borders.



“Our promotion is slow, and this breeds demoralisation; people are demoralised, we need our promotion evaluative system and eligibility to be reviewed.



“We need to create vacancies to remove stagnation among the personnel of NIS.



“We need better office and residential accommodations both in our states and border security; we need logistics to aid our border management, both land, air and the sea,” she said.



Ms Adepoju said that despite the challenges, the management was also poised to and committed to improving its service delivery mandate in line with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.



Ja’afar Mohammed, the secretary, the Board of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Correctional Services, and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, corroborated Ms Adepoju’s submission.



He explained that the board has had historical challenges, saying that the board had existed on an ad-hoc basis.



The secretary said the board did not have a comprehensive record of employees of NIS to generate eligibility status on issues relating to promotion and retirement



The committee chairman, Senator Adams Oshiomole, said the interaction, which was at the instance of the committee, was to have first-hand information and an overview of the challenges faced by the service.



He said this enabled the committee to intervene, support and evolve measures to solve the issues.



(NAN)





https://gazettengr.com/immigration-service-personnel-demoralised-poor-remuneration-not-taking-them-home-comptroller-general/

Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called for inclusivity as a means of consolidating democracy and promoting peace and progress in Africa.


A statement by Ikechukwu Eze, the former president’s spokesperson, quoted him as making the call in his remarks at the Second Annual Retreat of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) Special Envoys, High Representatives organised by International IDEA in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, democracy will serve the people better if African leaders at all levels respect the laws of their nations.


“I believe that we need to elect leaders who will respect their laws. If our leaders – presidents, prime ministers, the parliament and the judiciary – would respect our laws, I believe 70 per cent of our problems would be solved,” he said.

Mr Jonathan said that in the face of increasing military coups on the continent, especially in West Africa, inclusivity and good governance are what the people need to convince that civilian administrations are better than military governments.

“In Africa, democracy is currently facing many challenges, including the resurgence of coup d’état, citizen disenchantment, rising insecurity and tough economic situations for which special panels like this one are expected to interrogate and proffer solutions.

“I have always said there is a strong connection between democracy and development.

“Hence, the need to deepen democracy, make it more inclusive and strengthen the institutions of governance, towards building a stable and prosperous society,” Mr Jonathan said.

The former president added that the issue of inclusivity is a key part of the discussions for improving the convergence principle mentioned in the ECOWAS Protocol on democracy and good governance.

He charged the participants at the two-day high-level retreat to develop “concrete and actionable recommendations to respond in a sustainable and inclusive manner to these complex situations.”

(NAN)

https://gazettengr.com/coups-economic-hardship-insecurity-will-reduce-if-african-leaders-obey-laws-jonathan/