GIVE US LIGHT

Lately, it has been hot as hell. I never been there and i do not wish anyone goes there not me either!. The description in the Bible says it all. Finally! the rain came to the rescue since NEPA has decided to treat us otherwise. Just like i mentioned in my previous post. Nigeria wastes about $7billion in gas flaring which is enough to power Africa. Did you even know that Gas Flaring is illegal? Let us quickly go down the memory lane on Gas Flaring. It is common knowledge that the economy is substantially dependent and more dedicated to exploration of oil than it is to gas, several deposits of gas have been discovered around oil wells in Nigeria but because of the past failure of the government to focus and explore the many other natural resources which the country possesses, the gas industry has been practically frustrated and nearly abandoned over the years. Thus, leading to a loss of revenue in a sector where there is a likelihood of otherwise generating more revenue. It is however worthy to note that whilst statistics may not be accurate, the quantity of gas flared in Nigeria exceeds over 40% of the gas flared annually across Africa. Apart from economic waste being a consequence of gas flaring, flared gas is also known to contain toxic substances which cause respiratory diseases and air pollution, leading to depletion of the ozone layer, ultimately having an adverse effect on weather and climate. That being said, there are ways of improving electricity. I have listed some below which i got form different sources.

Expansion of the Energy Mix for Electricity Generation
For enhanced security of electricity supply there is the urgent need for expanding energy sources, from gas and large hydro to gas, hydro, solar energy, wind energy, biomass/biofuels, coal and nuclear. The new power plants can be built on the basis of public-private partnerships. The Government would then divest its involvement after some years in line with the current policy of getting the private sector to handle generation and distribution systems. Many advanced countries, along with the International Renewable Energy Agency and the Energy Commission of Nigeria, will guide the development of the large-scale renewable energy-based power plants. The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development would guide the development of clean coal power plants, while the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nigeria Atomic Energy Agency would guide the development of the nuclear power plants.Projects of the embedded generator type should be vigorously promoted at distribution networks to close the gap in local demand and supply of electricity. One way of doing this is to invite investors to be part of pre-packaged pilot projects in all the distribution companies. State governments should take interest in embedded generation, as is already the case in Lagos State.It is observed that despite the government’s proclaimed desire to deploy renewable energy sources (RES) in the nation’s energy mix, there is no supporting legislation to support the stated position. Government, rather, advocates “some limited involvement” in financing renewable energy technologies, mainly in the form of differential wholesale tariffs rather than direct capital injections. Government should as a matter of urgency embrace the current trend where many developing and emerging economies are vigorously promoting renewable energy efforts through direct policy initiatives and incentives.

Expanding and Strengthening the National Grid and Improvement of Distribution Systems
The national grid is weak and fragile and cannot manage more than 7,000 MW, on completion of the on-going National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs), for distribution to consumers. There is urgent need for the grid to be regionalized and privatized to enable the new owners to strengthen and expand the grid in line with the dictates of their respective zones.A large part of the existing transmission system is old, unreliable and unstable, with limited redundancy, which results in frequent customer outages at the transmission level. Government should facilitate and encourage the private sector to significantly improve the transmission capacity to deliver power to end users.On distribution, it should be noted that the Federal Government, in line with the stipulation of the Electricity Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act 2005, should maximize access to electricity by consumers. The target should be to ensure that there is a distribution mains supply within a distance of 1 km to any consumer cluster in Nigeria.

Provision of Fuels for New Power Plants
Expansion of the energy mix for new power plants will require special efforts that will call for the development of new gas fields as well as the development of both open cast and underground coal mines. There is also the need for development of both large and small farms for the production, on the one hand, of the feedstocks for biomass/biofuels power plants and, on the other hand, agro-allied industries for processing the feedstocks.The sustainable way of doing this is to entice the organized private sector through pragmatic policies and legislations. This initiative will lead to the creation of thousands of job opportunities for unemployed Nigerians. It will also promote inter-ministerial cooperation as it will involve Ministries of Agriculture, Petroleum Resources, Power as well as Mines and Steel Development.

Passage of the National Energy Policy into Law

The National Energy Policy, which was approved in 2003, along with the National Energy Masterplan that was produced in 2007, should be updated and passed into law. This is because the two energy planning documents have many cross-cutting issues pertinent to electricity, such as the scenario-based energy demand and supply projections and electricity generation expansion plans. The new legal documents will ensure the mainstreaming of the electricity development plans into the overall national development plans.

It is not my intention to confuse you with all the grammar. It is just sad that we have these resources both human and financial yet we have people who sabotage the good intentions of some of our leaders. This year i promise you will not be a good year for them, We are going to pray them out. Alleleuyah!. Let us take learnings form other countries and import them if they work for us. Nigeria WAS great. It WILL still be GREAT AGAIN.


#LETUSAVENIGERIA