Comrade Nash Shuaibu is an electricity worker and labor activist.
In this interview with Trend Reporters, the labor activist takes a look at the journey so far since the privatization of power distribution in Nigeria and suggested ways to move the sector forward in view of the many challenges confronting the power sector in the country.
Excerpt:
Some years back government privatized the distribution of electricity and with that we have the coming on board of different electricity distribution companies. Probably, why the sector was privatized was to ensure that there is improvement in power supply. But yet we are still where we are, if not even worse than the way it was before. What do you think is responsible for this?
I’m happy for that your statement that it appears we are even worse than were we are as at that time. Yes, that is it.
Privatization of electricity is not the right thing to do, because if you look at it electricity is the number one security of any nation. When as at that time our leaders, comrade Joe Ajaero and others were advising the government not to privatize electricity; they said “don’t mind them, privatize it, it is because they were inefficient, they don’t want to work”. And I’m happy that the same Nigerians that were saying those things are the same people that are complaining now.
Now, these companies have been privatized for seven years, as we speak there is no where you can see any of them that has invested to build a power station. They have not done that. What they are still doing is managing what is on ground.
A government that sold all these properties for about four hundred billion naira to the power distribution companies has put in over a trillion naira to this same business.
Regard to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for what she said when she was minister of finance. She said a company that stands on its own and at the end of the month can pay salary and do other overhead cost without recourse to government, such company should not be privatized, what you need to do is to support it and make it more viable. That was PHCN.
PHCN was operating, at the end of the month the company would pay salaries and overhead cost, and every other thing, without asking government to bring a dime. You privatized such a company. And now the same company you are putting so much money in it.
Now they said they want to give out about six million meters, is government that is going to do all those things and it requires a lot of money.
If you had supported Power Holding Company of Nigeria as at 2013 with about a hundred billion naira, I think the light situation in Nigeria today would have improved. But no, because you talk about bringing in foreign investors, but at the end of it all, there is no single foreign investor. If they say is a lie, let them tell Nigerians who are the owners of the DISCOS. There is no single foreign investor. They took money from Nigeria to buy Nigeria properties.
Some people have suggested that the country should look at solar energy as an alternative to electricity supply in the country while some called for re-privatization of DISCOs in the country. Are you in support of any of these positions or you have a different position on what should be done?
Whatever they want to do that will improve power supply is supported by every rational Nigerian.
Most of the things we are doing today, especially the small scale business owners they are really suffering because of this incessant increase in petroleum products, because you need light to run some of these businesses. Of course, you are not unaware of the fact that there are some of these businesses too which left Nigeria to neighboring countries because of power.
The present administration told us when they were campaigning that it would not take more than one year to fix electricity. They are in their seventh year now in office, they’ve not fix electricity. So, it is easier said than done.
For instance, if you look at Nigeria, we have a lot of coal, if Nigeria want to say let us face that area of using coal to generate electricity by now we would have gone far. There is so much coal deposited in the eastern part of the country.
In other countries they used waste to generate electricity. They also used wind. Of course if you want to use wind to generate electricity, go to the northern part of the country, where they are close to the desert, we have a lot of electricity to generate electricity.
They are telling you solar, I have see it that it is a way for them to sit down again, make money available and share it among themselves. And we will still be where we are.
But whatever they want to do let them do it. For me, I am not saying I am going to be supporting what they want to do but there is at times when a man blind man stay too long in the dark he will begin to see things. Nigerians are beginning to see things from that aspect now, that if we see this things work, then we would now believe them.
I just pray that God would help Nigerians with good leaders that would make this country move to where it ought to be.
Lastly sir, what would be message to those at the helm of affairs, especially to those in charge of power supply in this?
What I want to say to them is that they should be truthful. No matter how you see it the greatest characteristics of a leader is to say the truth always.
They should be accountable to the people on their responsibilities so that the people can see it that we are actually putting in so much but here is where we are now.
Since they privatized PHCN I don’t think we even remember how many times they have increased tariff. That is all they are after, tariff. They cannot give meters to anybody. All they are after is how to maximize profit and that is the essence of investors, to get money.
If government really wants to do things for this country, I would prefer that Nigeria government should subsidized electricity and remove subsidy from fuel. So that a small business owner can have electricity to do things. When barbers, cobblers and other skilled workers have electricity to work some of the goods and services in the country would drastically come down.
