Since the coming of Buhari’s administration, there has been a debate about whether the electricity enjoyed by Nigerians has improved or not. Many argue that it has improved and have since counted it among the achievements of this administration. They argue that for the first time, we generate 7,000MW and the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Raji Fashola, has designs to generate more. Those with this point of view point to the fact that they now enjoy up to 18 hours of electricity.
While many completely disagree and point to the meagre six hours of electricity they enjoy daily. Some even go for days without it – they completely depend on their generators.But both groups are right.
I’ve been to some of these states and I live in some. For example, when I went to Kano, almost everyone I interviewed said that indeed they enjoyed more electricity – up to 18 hours a day. Some said they were provided up to 20 hours a day. “We don’t go without electricity for two hours,” my host in Kano told me. It is the same situation in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and some parts of Kaduna (Rigasa and Tudunwada in Kaduna can go for days without electricity).
But you can’t take the argument that electricity has improved to Minna or FCT. I spend my days in both places. Both are served by Abuja Electricity Distribution Company or AEDC. Can the Discos be credited or faulted for how much of electricity we get? Certainly. But the government is not doing enough to protect the helpless citizens – even though it has found ways to help other stakeholders. For example, recently, it allowed the generating companies to sell directly to some categories of consumers on account of the shenanigans of the Discos. But that does not include me or my neighbour or you. When it comes to us, the government seems completely hopeless.
The one solution to the problem everyone has agreed upon is to meter all customers, but some Discos, such as AEDC, have not done this. Yet, they continue to enjoy revenue for which they did not provide service. For example, my family house in Bida pays a flat rate of N5, 000 every month. While in Minna where we enjoy marginally more electricity, I spend less than that on our prepaid meter monthly.
The government knows this but it has not helped us.
What to do? Use technology to disrupt the entire system! Every industry (communication, finance, education, etc.) is facing disruption through technology, electricity shouldn’t be an exception.
Here’s how the technology has disrupted different sectors.
Communication: When my mother doubted that her husband was in good health when we were in Saudi together with him, I simply switched to Whatsapp video call so that she could see him from Nigeria.
Education: Today, you can be taught in your room in Zaria through the internet by a Nobel Prize winning scientist – getting the quality of instruction that you can’t get in the entire Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
Finance: I recently wrote a paper on FinTech (the application of technology to improve or disrupt financial services either by banks themselves or technology companies) and I listed how you can get a loan without collateral, send money using only an email address, crowdfund your business or transfer money using a basic phone. Technology has so disrupted finance that some experts are beginning to question the utility of cash. Because cash is expensive to make and the cost of production is transferred to the user; why should you pay for something you hardly use? The experts ask.
So what technology can we use to disrupt the power sector? Solar energy technology. We have the raw material, we already use the technology in our homes, and therefore what is required is only to scale it.
But the most important thing is that due to the economy of scale (reduction in cost due to mass production) and technology (especially production of the solar panels), solar is now incredibly cheap and getting cheaper.
A recent report in the Daily Trust of Monday March 5, 20018 filed by Abdullateef Salau was a huge news that many people didn’t think much about. The story titled “EU, Germany to spend 33m [euro] on Nigeria’s power generation” said that the money was going to provide 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity for Nigeria.
When you compute the figure by the official exchange rate of 375 to the euro that is only 12.4 billion naira. Now divide that by 500 MW. You’re likely to get approximately 25 million naira per MW. Which means, 250m naira can give you 10MW. Now which state can’t afford this?
A 100MW of electricity is enough for many states. It certainly is enough for my state, Niger. What we get from the national grid now is not up to that – even Abuja gets less than 50MW sometimes. And this 100MW costs only 2.5b naira.
The report excited me so much I began to doubt the accuracy of the figure. I read the report over and over again. “Probably the reporter wanted to write 50 not 500MW?” I asked myself. I went to the internet to confirm.
I found a page on SolarMango.com with a chart (find the link below) showing a prediction that by 2020 [two years from now] 10MW of solar electricity would cost 700,000 pounds; that comes to 29.6m naira per megawatts which is not too different from what the EU and Germany (represented by GIZ) are providing. Obviously the price didn’t wait for 2020 before coming down – which is typical of technological improvement. Even my friend who sells solar panels told me that the panels he used to sell for 50,000 naira only some months ago are now about 30,000 naira.
Even our local councils, private companies or schools can afford to purchase one or two megawatts of electricity and go off grid.
I hope our state governors will start thinking about this opportunity and invest in it for the benefits of their citizens. Solar is available here, it’s a renewable energy and now it’s cheap. So what excuse do we have? what is the next step? The state governments may want to contact GIZ on way forward; Germans are the best on matters of solar energy.
Follow this link to check the numbers: http://www.solarmango.com/ask/2015/10/26/what-is-the-installation-cost-of-utility-scale-solar-power-plant-mw-in-the-uk/
