WHY THE EPILEPTIC POWER SUPPLY? (Part1)

My Uncle recently came home from America with his American Wife and child. His wife and child were visiting Nigeria for the first time. Due to a delay in their flight schedule, they had arrived Nigeria at Night. When they got to our house, fortunately, there was light. We were all resting when it happened… there was a blackout… everywhere became dark, almost immediately, my Uncle’s son let out a loud scream, “mummy!!!! Am blind!!”, then followed a swift reply from the mum, “Oh! My son I’m blind too!!”….. We had a good laugh that night…

Nigeria in recent months have witness a spate of epileptic power supply and this has become as a major source of concern among various classes of people in the Nigeria society. It becomes more annoying that the government has not come out to explain the reason for the frequent blackouts.

Among all the changes which the Nigerian electricity power sector has undergone over the years, the most recognizable is the frequent change of names; from NESC (Nigerian Electricity Supply Company) in 1929 to NEPA (National Electric Power Authority) popularly called ‘Never Expect Power Always’ by Nigerians in 1972 to PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) popularly called ‘Please Hold Candle Now’ by Nigerians in 2005 up till the various electricity Distribution companies we have today.

 But the most recent changes are more than mere change of names. Before now, the whole aspects of electricity were managed by the federal government through the above named agencies. The PHCN and its predecessors were in charge of the three aspect involved in the supply of electricity which are; Generation, Transmission and Distribution. 

The electricity is generated from the power stations, transmitted through the national grid high tension; then it is distributed to our various transformers to give us light.

Due to inefficiency in management and frequent power failure that is typical of PHCN and its predecessors, the federal government decided to privatize electricity power supply in Nigeria. 

But in order to avoid putting Nigerians at the mercy of a single private firm for electricity supply, the Federal government decided to UNBUNDLE the sector.

UNBUNDLING of the power sector simply means dividing up the power sector into various aspects involved in power supply. This unbundling divided up the electricity supply sector into three major sectors, thus

·        Generation: Responsible for generating the electricity from Generation stations located in various parts of the country.

·        Transmission: Responsible for transmitting the generated electricity from the generation station to the distribution companies.

·        Distribution: Responsible for making sure the transmitted electricity gets to the final consumers in their homes, offices and industries.

This unbundling started in President Umaru Yaradua’s regime and finally during President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime, the unbundled sectors were successfully sold to private firms.

To be continued…. Stay tuned