*Says less than 50% of citizens connected to national grid
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, yesterday declared that Nigerians were subjected to epileptic electricity supply for many decades due to aged and weak power infrastructure across the sector’s value chain.
The minister stated this during his inspection tour of MBH Power Limited’s facility, in Shagamu, Ogun State.
MBH Power is an integrated energy solutions provider with a focus on engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services in transmission and distribution, metering, energy audit as well as turnkey solutions in conventional and non-conventional power generation.
Beyond the two critical issues of poor legislation and policies that had bedevilled the Nigerian power industry for many years, Adelabu pointed out that infrastructure was another major challenge facing the sector which had been neglected over time.
“We have aged infrastructure across all segments. Power lines are weak; the transformers are old; the towers have fallen, and we have not replaced this infrastructure as expected, to be able to support an improvement in power supply over time.
“So, this has accumulated for too long and that is what is responsible for the epileptic supply that we have seen and have subjected Nigerians to, over time,” the minister said.
To reverse the trend, he said the focus of his ministry was to upgrade and enhance power sector infrastructure, saying that is where the services of his host became handy.
At the level of pricing and liquidity in the power sector in Nigeria, Adelabu mentioned that a lot of reforms had gone into the tariff policy and that the government had identified poor liquidity as another major issue impeding the smooth operation of the sector.
He said at the foundation of the liquidity issue was metering, which engenders collections of distribution companies’ (Discos)’s bills to customers, describing metering as very key to the growth and sustainability of the electricity market in the country.
The minister, however, mentioned that less than 50 per cent of the electricity consumers nationwide were metered.
He maintained: “This is why Mr. President said we need to reverse this ugly trend, that we must ensure that we get every household, every business, every institution, every industry metered over the next four to five years, which is why we said the metering gap that we have, which is eight million meters must be reduced significantly in the short to medium term and eliminated in the long term.
“And he (President) established what is called the Presidential Metering Initiative, being managed by the Presidential Metering Council, of which I’m the Chairman. We have the target to ensure that we install a minimum of two million meters annually over the next four to five years,” he explained.
Adelabu informed that the government was also supported by its international development partners, the World Bank, under the Nigeria Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) to support the sectoral metering initiative with almost two million meters to be procured under the programme.
He said that programme makes the MBH Power’s factory very relevant to the vision and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
After inspecting and assessing the company’s factory, the minister expressed his satisfaction with the company’s offerings to the sector, adding that there was room for improvement by the firm.
With the efforts of the ministry to improve the sector’s infrastructure, Adelabu said the services of the company were handy based on its experience in building power transmission substations including the 330kv substations, 132kv substations, 330kv lines, and the 132kv. He added, “Your activities transcend all the sectors in the power sector value chain as an EPC contractor, now as a meter manufacturer, and now your foray into renewables, which means that you have a full understanding of the sector and what it takes to have a stable, virile and functional power sector.
“And your antecedence in Nigeria too based on projects you have handled across the country and the power sector value chain – your generation projects, transmission projects, your distribution projects, and now the last mile meter supply to the networks of distribution companies gives you that experience, that uniqueness and that leverage over some other companies.”
Earlier in his briefing to the minister, Director and Chief Operating Officer, MBH Powers, Mr. Rakesh Mahapatra, highlighted the company’s milestone projects in Nigeria since its establishment in the country in 2000 as a total energy solution providing company.
