By SEYE OJO
Nigeria, experts say, needs about 40, 000 megawatts of electricity to meet demands of homes and industrial customers. But the power generating capacity of the country has been fluctuating between 2,000 and 4,200 megawatts in the last two years.
Hopes of Nigerians rose last year that a new dawn had come in the power sector when many enjoyed regular power supply in different parts of the country. The handing over of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) PLC. to the private owners on November 1, 2013 further boosted the confidence of Nigerians that President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, were serious about fixing the problems in the power sector.
Chief Executive Officer, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Mack Kast, said at a recent induction and training session of newly employed electricity engineers in Abuja that the company had conceived a strategic plan that would generate for the country, 20,000 megawatts electricity wheeling capacity in the next four years.
“Right now, we have a capacity of 5,000MW. What is going on in my mind is that in about five year’s time, we will be able to evacuate four times or more than that,” Kast said.
But the people were shocked when power supply to many parts of the country suddenly dropped to 1,600MW, thus throwing people into darkness. The development might have probably dimmed their hope of steady power supply.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said power generation stood at 3, 580.2MW on January 12, 2014, while the Presidential Task Force on Power said 3, 574.10MW was generated on January 14, 2013.
With a total installed capacity of 10, 396MW, the country can only boast of 6,050MW available with actual supply fluctuating between 2,000MW and 4,200MW over the last two years due to inadequate gas supply to the power plants.
What could be responsible for inadequate gas supply to power plants? The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) answered the question in a public statement entitled: Status of Gas Supply to the Power Sector, on January 22, 2014. The gas sector has been faced with a major challenge in pipeline vandalism and this has significantly eroded available gas supply to the power plants.
The consequence of this, according to NNPC, was the current situation of sub-optimal supply of electricity to Nigerians. The statement further stated that over 30 per cent (480MMsf/d) of the installed gas supply capacity was out due mainly to vandalism two weeks ago, adding that the wasted gas was equivalent to the gas requirement to generate 1,600MW of electricity.
“The pipeline involved were the (Escravos-Warri of the ELPS A pipeline (190mmcf/d) and the Trans-Forcados crude pipeline (230mmcf/d). The remaining supply shortfall is due to faulty glycol pump at Utorogu plant (60mmcf/d). The outage of the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) A pipeline has been on for over six months due to a wilful act of vandalism at various locations between Escravos and Egwa location.
“Specifically on the 25th of June, 2013, an explosion rocked the pipeline. Investigation revealed that dynamite had been used and four ruptured points were identified. Nigerian Gas Company Limited (NGC), a Strategic Business Unit of NNPC, mobilized immediately to commence repair works.
“As repairs progressed, more points of rupture emerged. At the last count, 20 ruptured points had been identified, all due to deliberate dynamite explosion. The NGC completed repairs in November and on commissioning in December, rapid pressure loss was experienced, indicating further rupture in weakened locations. We have since effected the repairs of these new points and re-commenced commissioning activities. It is expected that, all things being equal, gas supply will be reinstated shortly.”
Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, is visibly piqued by the gas pipeline vandalism. He is worried that most of the holes in the pipeline were created by dynamites in the deep waters of the sea, where the pipelines are buried. He described the vandals as saboteurs.
He raised the alarm that the vandalism has not only been responsible for the shortfall in electricity generation in the country, it also portends dangers to the overall realisation of the power sector dream through regeneration of power facilities.
How will he describe the vandals? He responded: “The devil comes as human beings. We are fighting them on a daily basis. They are demons in human forms. What we have today is whenever you hear of theft and stealing and vandalism, it is so much less than what it used to be before. The major problem is the oil and gas pipelines. People actually go to gas pipelines and blow them up, not to get anything but to punish Nigerians. Are they not demons?
“I engaged the services of the National Security Adviser, who engaged the services of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and also the Army. This is the reason there has been a substantial improvement in the security of our transmission and distribution infrastructure.
“So, I am doing everything to drive them out, using all kinds of legal, military and prayers, because some of them are so demon-possessed we have to exorcise them. Somebody who will punish himself, punish his mother, punish his father, punish his children and punish the whole country for nothing; is that not a demon? Is he a real human being? So, there are demons there and I am still dealing with them.”
Answering a question on the efforts of the Federal Government to nip vandalism in the bud, he also disclosed that the critical policymakers have been informed to evolve a legal framework for the punishment of vandals.
“I believe that vandalism, by the time we get the legal framework completed, people should be punished. In fact, they can be punished under Miscellaneous Act because this is a sabotage of the entire national economy. The people who do this should be made to pay dearly for it.
He solicited the support of the media industry to help in mounting campaign against vandalism, adding that when faceless people vandalised the pipelines, especially the ones associated with gas, gas would be lost because it would not go to the turbines.
He continued: “It is not only the power sector that suffers. If there is no gas, we cannot produce fertilizer. If there is no fertilizer, the farmers cannot get the agricultural inputs that they need in time when it is needed. What is the result? It is crop failure across the land.”
The saboteurs and the oil thieves, according to Nebo, have caused haemorrhage for Nigeria’s economy. He described gas pipeline vandalism, as horrible because the unscrupulous elements have been doing it wilfully.
“Can you imagine that? All done to sabotage this country, to make sure that people think President Jonathan is doing nothing whereas, if we had gas, we would easily be generating 1,000 megawatts more than we are generating now if not for this sabotage. So, it is a painful thing,” he stated.
Residents of a Lagos community, Greenfield Estate Development Association, in a letter to the Business Manager, PHCN, Oshodi-Isolo Unit, lamented that power supply to the estate has been very poor, even as they accused some people of vandalising PHCN equipment. The association restricted PHCN officials from coming into the estate on official duty over the alleged vandalism
The association’s chairman, Prince Nixon Okwara stated: “All PHCN staff coming into the estate to work on PHCN equipment must sign and clear themselves at the estate’s secretariat at the entrance and also sign out after, as a roaster has been provided for that.”
The minister, Prof Nebo further noted: “Look at the other sabotage of distribution outfits. Some young men go and cannibalize transformers and steal copper. The copper they steal, they go to the markets, sell the coppers as scraps for N10,000 and knock out more than one million people from power for a month and they don’t care.
“Then at the end of the day, it costs the distribution company N27million to fix what people destroyed. That’s why we need a massive campaign, all of us working together, synergizing to let Nigerians know that we are all suffering for this very vandalism.”
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, also said at the commissioning of the $6.6million World Bank-Assisted Transmission Sub-Station in Karu, Abuja in the last quarter of 2013: “How could someone go under water and blast gas pipelines channelling gas to turbines built to generate electricity? Recently, these unscrupulous elements went under water and blew up these pipelines with dynamites at six points under water. These are some of the problems we have been battling, but which we are not letting out to the public.
“Can these acts be explained or justified by any stretch of argument? Are these people who perpetrate these acts not some of the worst enemies of the country? Is this not the most classic case of cutting your nose to spite your face? These people must be fished out and dealt with. They are not just ordinary people, because it takes a lot to carry out that level of activity. “President Goodluck Jonathan has been doing a lot to fulfil his promise of giving uninterrupted power to Nigerians. The evidence of the success is already everywhere. But there are people who are determined to ensure that these efforts do not succeed. We must stop these people because they are dangerous to the society.”
Commenting on the successful privatisation of the PHCN, Prof Nebo, attributed the success of the exercise to the focus and determination of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“At first, many people had argued that it was not possible. The international community in sheer amazement of this feat tagged it ‘simultaneous sequentiality.’ Therefore, every Nigerian who loves this country ought to see where the President is going and support him. This we can do by ensuring that we do not destroy facilities, we do not look the other way when we see them being destroyed. The more we preserve these projects, the more we say thank you to Mr. President and the more the nation forges ahead,” he said.
The post How gas pipeline vandals, others cause irregular power supply appeared first on The Sun News.
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