The Sad Power Verdict of Adelabu

Adebayo Adelabu. Source: Theindependent.ng

Recently, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu warned that if the recent increases in electric power tariff are not accepted by Nigerians, there will be a total blackout within the next three months in Nigeria. We thought that Adelabu would be advocating for the ordinary Nigerian, considering that he is talking on an issue that pitches ordinary Nigerians against a profit-driven institution. 

If one has been watching events in the power sector, one would have no option but to doubt if that warning is hinged on any sincerity. The history of electric power reforms in Nigeria is replete with tariff increases and lies since there aren’t corresponding improvements in the power supply. This, largely, has been the narrative. 

Let us look at cases of insincerity that we have witnessed along the way since the power reform got underway. There is the issue of metering. It was pronounced, from the onset, that meters would be free. The issue continued lingering such that those who eventually got the meters had to make one form of payment or the other. 

But there is also the preposterous issue of estimated metering. The estimations kept rising steadily and it reached a situation where some consumers were paying as much as N17, 000 month. So, if a country pays a minimum wage of N17,000.00 –as it was then – you know that something was awry. While some consumers were waiting for their meters, the story changed –you have to pay as much as N80,000 to get a meter currently. What happened to consumers who had their connections on condition that their meters would come free? It means that they have been robbed. 

There is the question of whether the distribution companies were sold to third parties. The tradition in an atmosphere that is rife with greed and graft is that people in power skim such that everything ends with them. People in Nigeria feel that when you are in power, ensure you make the “most” of it. So, the issue of transparency was questionable. If you look at other corporations that were sold at the time, most ended up in the hands of people who were in power at the time of the privatizations. An example is NICON HILTON in Abuja which ended in the hands of the government officials of the Obasanjo’s Presidency.  

Recently, there has been the issue of Band “A” consumer communities that would be charged over N200 per unit of electricity because they get not less than 20 hours of electricity per day. It was a deal struck with the distribution companies. It failed disgracefully as the companies could not keep their side of the bargain and is, thus, an indication that the companies are never sincere, never corporate in their dealings and shouldn’t be trusted to guarantee any improvement in power supply regardless of how much they charge. 

Now, the combined distribution companies made a profit of over eight hundred billion naira in 2022. In 2023, it rose to over a trillion naira. So, when the Minister of Power gave that warning, it seemed like the companies had not been making profits. The question is: why is it that despite these profits, the supply has only declined? At least, we don’t see any electricity.