admin The former chairman Ibadan Forum of Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Jide Taiwo, has called for a declaration of emergency in the electricity power sector in Nigeria. He made this call in Ibadan during an exclusive
interview with Crude Reports Magazine.
Dr. Taiwo who served as chairman for a two-term term of six years was emphatic that this declaration will augur well to pay urgent attention to critical problems that had made Nigeria not to have gotten it right in power generation, transmission
and distribution for decades now.
The forum office is the second level in the commission’s redress mechanism where complaints from electricity consumers that are not resolved at the customer care unit of the electricity distribution companies are referred for
settlement. 
Dr. Taiwo was asked to mention specifically the real causes or factors hindering Nigeria from being able to generate, transmit and distribute power supply to industries, small businesses and the populace after the government had unbundled the power holding company of Nigeria (PHCN) and opted for privatisation. Smiling with an assurance of someone who knows the depth of the problems, he said, “The problem is not with the distribution companies. There are
three tiers in the supply chain of electricity power the generation, transmission and distribution. The problem atimes is from the generation level when you don’t generate anything, what will you distribute. All those cases of grid collapsing most of the time if the grid is collapsing? what
will they generate. But because the distribution companies are the closest to the consumers, the people often thought they are
the problems yet they are not.” He explained further that the majority of the blame is heaped upon the distribution companies (DISCOS) because they are too low in awareness, they don’t speak out.”
What then is the way out? Dr. Taiwo observed that the government is already on the right track by removing electricity generation from the exclusive list, such that states, private companies and individuals can now be licensed to generate their own power needs and no longer rely on the federal government.
He advised that the generation of electricity should also be looked into critically because “Most of the equipment, like transformers, are obsolete, hence the need to declare an emergency on the electricity sector as quickly as possible.”
How will the emergency declaration be effective to address some long-overdue problems that had almost crippled the power sector in Nigeria? Adjusting his seat with a changed tone of voice, the former chairman of Ibadan Forum of NERC was emphatic that there must be total overhauling of the staff “You look at those who are not performing and you sack them while retaining the productive ones because manpower is important. He explained that the leadership must also be
determined to effect the desired changes to move from negative column to a positive column.
To buttress his facts, Dr. Jide Taiwo gave an example of how IBEDC was fined 50 million naira some years ago while he was the chairman of Ibadan Forum of the NERC. According to him, “IBEDC refused to implement certain decisions of the Forum and I reported the company to the NERC headquarters office in Abuja and it was fined 50 million naira and failure to pay the fine would automatically lead
to the withdrawal of the company’s operating license. “
What is your dream of the future regarding the electricity power sector? Without mincing words, Dr. Jide Taiwo remarked, “We will get it right. By the time states start generating their power needs and individuals are already switching to the use of solar power, things will begin to change for better. We have seen how the power supply situation
has affected the industrial sector and how artisans had abandoned their vocational shops because no power supply to work. How small and medium-scale industries collapsed due to inability to afford diesel for powering their equipment. I believe that with the current steps being taken by the
federal government to break the monopoly of the distribution companies, things will change very soon.”
He identified most of the key issues that are featuring as anomalies in the electricity power sector to include among others, the issue of metering, poles, overbilling of consumers, obsolete transformers and outright vandalisation of some equipment by enemies of progress.
The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was established in 2005 during the second term of former President Olusegun Obasanjo under the economic reform agenda through the electric power sector reform act 2005
(repealed), now the electricity act 2023, for the formation and review of electricity tariffs, transparent policies regarding
subsidies, promotion of policies that are efficient and eminently friendly, as well as forming and enforcing of standards in the creation and use of electricity in Nigeria.
Report by Tunde Olaore
