The signing into legislation of the Fifth Structure Alteration Payments, which grant States the facility to generate, transmit and distribute electrical energy in areas lined by the nationwide grid and switch rail transportation from Unique to the Concurrent Legislative Checklist, opens up new vistas for the beleaguered financial system of Nigeria.
The Fifth Alteration (No.17) altered the 1999 Structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to permit States to generate, transmit and distribute electrical energy in areas lined by the nationwide grid; and for associated issues.
Earlier than the newest modification, it is perhaps argued that electrical energy was within the Concurrent Legislative Checklist, as Paragraph 14, Half II, Second Schedule of the Structure offered as follows:
“14. A Home of Meeting might make legal guidelines for the State with respect to – (a) electrical energy and the institution in that State of electrical energy stations; (b) the technology, transmission and distribution of electrical energy to areas not lined by a nationwide grid system inside that State; and (c) the institution inside that State of any authority for the promotion and administration of electrical energy stations established by the State.”
Nonetheless, in follow, the federating states have been rendered horse de fight by the truth that any energy generated must be fed first into the nationwide grid. Different ancillary legal guidelines made it virtually not possible for States and the personal sector to be main gamers within the all-important energy sector of the financial system. Sadly, from the navy interregnums as much as the current time, the Federal Authorities has carried out abysmally when it comes to energy technology, transmission and distribution. It’s a unhappy commentary {that a} nation of about 200 million is served by 4,000 Megawatts of electrical energy.
We recall that on Sunday, July 5, 2010, at about 1730 GMT (5.00pm), a Federal Authorities-owned radio station, Paramount FM, 94.5, introduced that it was going off air as a result of it had “been working on generator since early morning.” In different climes, a radio station of the standing of Paramount FM solely goes off air for a really compelling purpose equivalent to when it suffers technical hitches, the necessity to overhaul its equipment of operation or when a power majeure (pure catastrophe, warfare, and many others.) is pressured upon it. Even then circumstances of disruption of programming are few and much between. However for a broadcasting station, within the twenty first century, to unabashedly announce that it was shutting down its operations so as to permit its producing set “to relaxation” is, to say the least, most ludicrous. Sadly, that is the lot of many different companies and establishments in Nigeria.
What additional proof can we require to conclude that Nigeria, regardless of the gargantuan monetary sources it has earned from the sale of hydrocarbon deposit since independence in 1960, stays an underdeveloped financial system? Is the appalling state of energy provide not a proof of a nation that has been left behind by its contemporaries in Asia, Latin America, and even Africa?
Regrettably, as at 2010, when Paramount FM was shutting down to permit its generator “to relaxation”, Ghana, a neighbouring West African nation, was celebrating ten years of uninterrupted energy provide! As at 2010, the US of America, with a inhabitants of 300 million, generated 937,000 Megawatts of electrical energy. South Africa, a rustic of 47 million folks, powered its financial system with 43,000 Megawatts. Ghana, with a inhabitants of 21 million folks, generated 18,000MW. Brazil was our modern within the 60s; it served its 188 million folks with 90,000 Megawatts. Germany generated 115,000MW for its 83 million residents whereas UK, Nigeria’s former colonial grasp, had 77,000 Megawatts of electrical energy for its 60 million residents. What’s extra, a growing nation like Thailand had a whopping 40,000MW for its inhabitants of 70 million. Our expensive nation Nigeria, with a inhabitants of 150 million, might solely boast of 4,000 (4 thousand megawatts) in 2010 and 14 years after, in 2024, we’ve got remained virtually on the identical spot! What a come down for a nation regardless of its gargantuan human and materials sources!
That energy provide stays a first-rate mover within the financial growth of any nation is an understatement. What’s extra, a Nigerian nation, which nonetheless languishes within the backwoods of civilization, wants ample power to jump-start its financial growth and propel it to the twenty first century.
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