RIFNOTE
The purpose of this intervention is to offer an open suggestion to a fellow Oyo State indigene – Oloye Bayo Adelabu who has just been appointed the Nigerian Federal Minister of Power. It is perfectly in order to congratulate Oloye Bayo Adelabu, even though Nigerians are still awaiting the court verdict on the legitimacy of the government in which he has been appointed to serve. Bayo Adelabu is the grandson of a First Republic Politician and the Western Region Party Secretary of the defunct National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons – Late Honorable Adegoke Adelabu.
Late Adelabu is popularly known as Penkelemesi, because he used the phrase “peculiar mess”, in his characteristic mastery of English Language, to describe the Action Group members in the Western Region House of Assembly. The Senior Adelabu was a formidable, intelligent, and opposing voice to Awolowo’s Action Group. Today, intelligent opposition is nowhere to be found in Nigerian politics. People-oriented opposition has been eroded away, along with ideological politics. Meaningful opposition has been substituted with politics of turn-by-turn and self-gains.
In May 2015, at a night event, I was introduced to Bayo Adelabu by my brother from Oyo Town, Alhaji Tunde Ologburo, when Bayo was preparing to run for the office of governor in Oyo State. The next day, the Young Adelabu sent two books to me through Alhaji Ologburo. The first book, authored by Yinka Adelabu and Lekan Olagunju, is a biography of the “Nationalist Philosopher” that chronicled Late Adegoke Adelabu’s lifetime and his contributions to national politics and development. The second book was authored by Penkelemesi himself and it is titled “African in Ebullition” and this is relevant to my intervention here.
I could have sent my suggestion privately to the Young Adelabu but I want to make it public to set it in the records, especially because his grandfather’s book should inspire Nigerian public servants of today to do well in their duties. It is also my way of paying forward the 5-minute acquaintance I had with him and his gifting of those two books to me. Unfortunately, he and my brother are no longer in the same political camp. Perhaps, his reason for not acknowledging my earlier messages to him.
In “African in Ebullition”, the Senior Adelabu philosophized about the road to African self-government and the responsibility of freedom. Of particular interest in this context is Chapter 6 (pages 62 to 66) where Late Hon Adelabu said: “Agriculture without some measure of industrialization is incapable of, and, incompatible with, higher standards of living characteristic of modern cultured living” (Page 62, Adelabu Adegoke, 1952). He further stated that power supply is an important factor to encourage industrialization, and that the “power problem must be solved in a comprehensive way” (page 64). Fate has brought his grandson to the position of Minister of Power, 71 years after, to comprehensively resolve the peculiar mess of the Nigerian power sector.
I am an advocate of putting a square peg in a square hole, and a round peg in a round hole. Oloye Bayo Adelabu – an Accountant and expert in Monetary Policy, and a former CBN Deputy Governor under President Goodluck Jonathan, would have better utilized his experience in the Finance or Budget and National Planning Ministry, than in the Ministry of Power. This is especially because Nigeria, since the time Late Adelabu wrote his book and 63 years after independence, has not been able to appreciate and comprehend the enormity of responsibility attached to freedom of self-government. There is still no power to industrialize and drive “modern cultured living”, as envisioned by Late Adelabu. No power to practice agriculture effectively and realize the full potential of the agricultural value chain (e.g., Cocoa to Chocolate). It is easy for any administrator or politician to supervise a working system. But we are in an emergency situation, and it takes someone with the rudimentary knowledge of the complex technicalities to roll up his sleeves in the trenches and supervise civil servants, local and foreign contractors, and work with other stakeholders to achieve the desired goals, especially in a seemingly hopelessly corrupt system. I am also an advocate of merging the ministries of power and petroleum into the Ministry of Energy. Petroleum (Oil and Gas) is an energy source (chemical energy), and electric-power is an energy vector (electrical energy). A Ministry of Energy will provide a turnkey approach to solving energy problems holistically, especially with the imminent global energy transition, resulting from the ravaging effects of climate change. It is a global best practice.
Be that as it may, Oloye Bayo Adelabu can still make some progress. I do not know if President Tinubu – his hiring manager, has given him a job description or term of reference, with which to measure his success as the Minister of Power. However, he must take a cue from his grandfather’s book, and he must clean-up the peculiar mess of the Nigerian power sector, to set the stage for Nigerian industrialization.
I itemize some suggestions for him herewith:
1) He must hire an experienced energy/power expert as an independent advisor, to guide him appropriately. He cannot totally rely on the top civil servants or the corrupt system, as that will be a recipe for failure.
2) I have shared with him, in my congratulatory message, two links to my article titled: “Open letter to Buhari’s successor on why Nigeria’s energy crisis should be declared an emergency” published by News Scroll (Open letter to Buhari’s successor on why Nigeria’s energy crisis should be declared an emergency (newsscrollngr.com)) and the Nigerian Tribune (Open letter to Buhari’s successor on Nigeria’s energy crisis – Tribune Online (tribuneonlineng.com)) on January 9, 2022. He has yet to acknowledge both.
3) I admonish him to read the article, and other available previous works, documents and Acts, on Nigerian power projects, and extract quick-win ideas therein to guide his work in the next 4 years! Possibly?
4) In particular, the Siemen Project – “Electrification Roadmap for Nigeria”, which started in 2018, must be reviewed to identify lapses and correct them. The project is to raise the Nigerian electricity supply to 25,000 MW by the year 2025. Today, there is no indication that the project is on course, to achieve the goal by 2025. The review and new completion date must be communicated to Nigerians within one month of his assumption of office.
5) Current and future industrial end-users must be identified for special and priority considerations.
6) It is important to drive more private participation in the power sector, and provide government intervention as needed. Power generation and distribution can be left majorly in the hands of the private investors with minimal government regulations. He must create measurable incentives to encourage participation, and appropriate penalties for defaults in contractual obligations.
7) The transmission, at this stage, should be handled as a public-private collaboration to guarantee grid resiliency, end incessant grid collapse, and ensure national security in the power sector.
8) A significant investment is needed to build interconnected microgrids and smart grids to power cities and rural communities, and relieve the national grid, especially for the evacuation, transmission and distribution of power from distributed and variable energy sources across the country. This is one of the areas where Federal-State governments collaboration is critical.
9) Any State that is able to run its power project independently should be supported by the Federal Government. There is no reason why each Nigerian State cannot produce, distribute and find industrial uses for at least 2,000 MW of electricity within the State. That will be a minimum of 72,000MW nationally. This can be done in 4 to 6 years!
10) All energy sources must be utilized within the context of energy trilemma – availability, affordability and sustainability. Federal-State collaboration is also needed in this regard.
11) Collaborate with the Minister of Gas and other stakeholders to ensure regular gas supply for power generation using gas turbines. Instances of gas pipeline vandalization must be prevented.
12) Do comparative studies of the cost per kilo-watt-hour of electricity, with reference to developed (e.g., the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Germany) and emerging economies (China, India, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia) and identify learning points for frontier economies like Nigeria.
13) Electricity is not cheap anywhere in the world. Most governments subsidize at the point of generation, and allow the free market to dictate the other parts of the power supply spectrum. Now that the corrupt subsidy regime in the importation and consumption of petrol has ended; a strategic, limited and transparent subsidy for constant power supply at the point of generation, can reduce the hardship in the land, and sustain businesses and manufacturing sectors that rely on power. Even Solar Energy is subsidized in the United States with 30% tax credit for homeowners. Nigeria must devise an appropriate corruption-free subsidy system to accelerate the development of the power sector.
These are some of the short- and mid- term approaches he could employ to make some progress. Best of luck to the grandson of the iconic Adegoke Adelabu (Penkelemesi).
Olarinre Salako, PhD, an Energy-Expert, wrote from Texas, United States. He could be reached at olarinre.salako@gmail.com
