I would like to know the exact reason for the epileptic power supply in Nigeria. Maybe those of us that work with the ministry of power can help me out.


Why do we not have constant light here in Nigeria?
Is it as a result of insufficient power generation?
Or is it a case of bad transmission/distribution networks?

What exactly is the cause of power blackouts in Nigeria?
I believe if we can identify the problem, then we would be able to find a solution to it.

Let me grab a seat and read excuses that people will give on behalf of our reckless leaders

There is power. The hitch is that Power Holding is living up to its name.

Chongaiman:
There is power. The hitch is that Power Holding is leaving up to its name.

I do not understand. Can you expatiate?

Chongaiman:
There is power. The hitch is that Power Holding is leaving up to its name.

Very funny.

Have you failed to recall that a few years back, a country we distribute power to celebrated 10yrs of uninterupted power? That alone answers the question of wether we generate enough power.

About distribution lines, they are standard enough to power our homes and industries.

Our problem is that those charged with the responsibility of managing power distribution and generation has their private interests to protect. That is, they sabotage power stability efforts to favor their generator importing business established and maintained with embezzled funds meant for power generation and other social or basic amenities.

greatface:
Have you failed to recall that a few years back, a country we distribute power to celebrated 10yrs of uninterupted power? That alone answers the question of wether we generate enough power.

About distribution lines, they are standard enough to power our homes and industries.

Our problem is that those charged with the responsibility of managing power distribution and generation has their private interests to protect. That is, they sabotage power stability efforts to favor their generator importing business established and maintained with embezzled funds meant for power generation and other social or basic amenities.

@bolded, how exactly do they sabotage power stability? What exactly do they make not to function properly?

Secondly, If your poatulation is true, then, which excuse do they give for their inability to generate power? Definitely they should have an excuse to give to the president. So what's that excuse?

Maybe if we can tackle all these, even as lay citizens, then we may be able to rescue our nation ourselves.

U can't give what u don't have.. There was no meanful investment in power sector beyong rural electrification for decade leading up to 1999. Rural electrification increases load but not Generation nor Transmission. After 1999 all d investment power e.g the NIPP pojects suffered from power feasibility planning which was greatly influenced by naive political consideration rather than sound technical reasoning. Many NIPP projects were where there are no gas supply, Absence or inadequate transmission line to carry d Power if generated. Some plants were awarded to political rent seeker who just walked away with d money.. Distribution was privatize to political associates with no history of power management No fast/short term solution to Nigeria epileptic power supply- contionus investment in Gas supply , Transmission lines, migrating to All Grid systems and improving distribution and metering sytem.... And also improving our energy mix like building hydro stations and renewable energy plant.. Nigeria installed capacity is less than 10000 megawatt- while generating capacity is less than 5000 megawatt. Even at full capacity- power won't b enough....South Africa generate over 45,000 megawatt for her less than 65 million population...... No foriegn company will invest resources in Nigeria power sector cos the capital required is gigantic and pay back (construction period included) is long.... For violent, divisive and uncivilize country lacking sustainable policies like Nigeria that too long a time -

sam79:
U can't give what u don't have.. There was no meanful investment in power sector beyong rural electrification for decade leading up to 1999. Rural electrification increases load but not Generation nor Transmission. After 1999 all d investment power e.g the NIPP pojects suffered from power feasibility planning which was greatly influenced by naive political consideration rather than sound technical reasoning. Many NIPP projects were where there are no gas supply, Absence or inadequate transmission line to carry d Power if generated. Some plants were awarded to political rent seeker who just walked away with d money.. Distribution was privatize to political associates with no history of power management No fast/short term solution to Nigeria epileptic power supply- contionus investment in Gas supply , Transmission lines, migrating to All Grid systems and improving distribution and metering sytem.... And also improving our energy mix like building hydro stations and renewable energy plant.. Nigeria installed capacity is less than 10000 megawatt- while generating capacity is less than 5000 megawatt. Even at full capacity- power won't b enough....South Africa generate over 45,000 megawatt for her less than 65 million population...... No foriegn company will invest resources in Nigeria power sector cos the capital required is gigantic and pay back (construction period included) is long.... For violent, divisive and uncivilize country lacking sustainable policies like Nigeria that too long a time -

So in summary, you believe that our major problem is "we are not generating enough power".

right?

LordeCalifornia:

@bolded, how exactly do they sabotage power stability? What exactly do they make not to function properly?

Why I may not give answers to all questions even if I know them considering my time and the fact that it counts less, I may ask if you don't know that some people divert funds meant for public roads to their personal accounts.

Secondly, If your poatulation is true, then, which excuse do they give for their inability to generate power? Definitely they should have an excuse to give to the president. So what's that excuse?

Their excuses surely varies from persons to persons and time to time and it is entirely their responsibility to craft one. The way you referenced the president seems to exclude him entirely from the whole betrayal which he is obviously part of.

Maybe if we can tackle all these, even as lay citizens, then we may be able to rescue our nation ourselves.

The best we should hope for is revolution.

greatface:
Why I may not give answers to all questions even if I know them considering my time and the fact that it counts less, I may ask if you don't know that some people divert funds meant for public roads to their personal accounts.

Their excuses surely varies from persons to persons and time to time and it is entirely their responsibility to craft one. The way you referenced the president seems to exclude him entirely from the whole betrayal which he is obviously part of.

The best we should hope for is revolution.

Interesting. So you believe that constant power is presently achievable, only that some people do not want to see it come to reality.
Okay, nice.

LordeCalifornia:

Interesting. So you believe that constant power is presently achievable, only that some people do not want to see it come to reality.
Okay, nice.

While I may not bet on 24/7 supply I will easily stake on 15-20/7 nation wide supply putting a lot of factors into consideration.

I sincerely believe Nigeria has what it takes to be the Dubai of Africa.

greatface:
While I may not bet on 24/7 supply I will easily stake on 15-20/7 nation wide supply putting a lot of factors into consideration.

I sincerely believe Nigeria has what it takes to be the Dubai of Africa.

So even if the corrupt leaders are out of the way, you still wouldn't bet 24/7 electricity?

Why?

LordeCalifornia:


So even if the corrupt leaders are out of the way, you still wouldn't bet 24/7 electricity?

Why?

Yes.

Because of the citizen's orientation. In Nigeria, your yard mate can secretly damage power installation simply because you are watching dstv while he can't afford ordinary manual TV stand antena or because you have deep freezer while he can't afford #1500 electric iron

greatface:
Yes.

Because of the citizen's orientation. In Nigeria, your yard mate can secretly damage power installation simply because you are watching dstv while he can't afford ordinary manual TV stand antena or because you have deep freezer while he can't afford #1500 electric iron

lol

LordeCalifornia:
lol

Maybe funny but truth.

greatface:
Yes.

Because of the citizen's orientation. In Nigeria, your yard mate can secretly damage power installation simply because you are watching dstv while he can't afford ordinary manual TV stand antena or because you have deep freezer while he can't afford #1500 electric iron

Lol, na wa o.
But i think at the moment we don't have the resources for constant power supply.

4kings:

Lol, na wa o.
But i think at the moment we don't have the resources for constant power supply.

Which resources in particular?

4kings:

Lol, na wa o.
But i think at the moment we don't have the resources for constant power supply.

To me I believe it won't cost any of our former presidents or heads of state an average rich man life to give Nigerians constant power.

But who could be so willing to enrich lives as much?

CC:Netotse, Xdos

LordeCalifornia:

Which resources in particular?

Financial and managerial resources.
At the moment, our minister of finance is pitching to borrow for various projects.
The cost(including labor and operating costs) of maintaining/building power plants accross the country isn't cheap.
The US generate about 30% of her electricity from coal last time i read, sure we have coal in nigeria but there are no available refineries to take advantage of that.

We might have had opportunities to deal with this when we were financially stable but at the moment we can't.

I read about a proposed nuclear power plant deal with russia that's also a massive not only financially but can we manage/sustain that?

Some compare us to ghana, but i doubt the power generation in ghana can be fit for lagos, and moreso we experienced their inability to financially sustain that, when Nigeria revealed that ghana owed her about 33billion naira in gas supplies.

Power generation is an issue accross africa not just Nigeria though some countries are better than others and the challenge is Money and proper management.

greatface:
To me I believe it won't cost any of our former presidents or heads of state an average rich man life to give Nigerians constant power.

But who could be so willing to enrich lives as much?

I doubt any of their wealth can sustain constant power supply for a country like Nigeria for even 5 years(including Dangote).
But hopefully the country grows better.

4kings:

Financial and managerial resources.
At the moment, our minister of finance is pitching to borrow for various projects.
The cost(including labor and operating costs) of maintaining/building power plants accross the country isn't cheap.
The US generate about 30% of her electricity from coal last time i read, sure we have coal in nigeria but there are no available refineries to take advantage of that.

We might have had opportunities to deal with this when we were financially stable but at the moment we can't.

I read about a proposed nuclear power plant deal with russia that's also a massive not only financially but can we manage/sustain that?

Some compare us to ghana, but i doubt the power generation in ghana can be fit for lagos, and moreso we experienced their inability to financially sustain that, when Nigeria revealed that ghana owed her about 33billion naira in gas supplies.

Power generation is an issue accross africa not just Nigeria though some countries are better than others and the challenge is Money and proper management.

sorry but it's not an issuin Ghana any longer

4kings:

Financial and managerial resources.
At the moment, our minister of finance is pitching to borrow for various projects.
The cost(including labor and operating costs) of maintaining/building power plants accross the country isn't cheap.
The US generate about 30% of her electricity from coal last time i read, sure we have coal in nigeria but there are no available refineries to take advantage of that.

We might have had opportunities to deal with this when we were financially stable but at the moment we can't.

I read about a proposed nuclear power plant deal with russia that's also a massive not only financially but can we manage/sustain that?

Some compare us to ghana, but i doubt the power generation in ghana can be fit for lagos, and moreso we experienced their inability to financially sustain that, when Nigeria revealed that ghana owed her about 33billion naira in gas supplies.

Power generation is an issue accross africa not just Nigeria though some countries are better than others and the challenge is Money and proper management.

Nice!
Okay, you believe that our major problem lies solely in generating power. Going by your analysis, if we can build more generating plants, and of course, power them, then we would finally have constant power.
But If that is the case, then I don't think we should really be suffering as we're suffering right now. Because, we sure have the financial resources to build as many coal powered plants as we want to.
And talking about refining coal, I don't think the process of refining coal is as complex as that of petroleum. In fact, Coal refining should be as easy as ABC(exaggeration) because you don't need it in fractions, the coal you mine is almost basically the coal you burn, all that is needed is the removal of minor impurities.
I really find it difficult to believe that out problem lies in power generation. Because if it is, then, like I've written above, the ministry of power would have recommended the construction of multiple coal plants. If people could loot sum of monies as huge as $9m, $43m, $1.7b easily without trace, then you should know we have so much in our national purse to fund coal powered plants.

Except maybe we are considering the effects of global warming as a reason for not investing in coal powered power plants

LordeCalifornia:

Nice!
Okay, you believe that our major problem lies solely in generating power. Going by your analysis, if we can build more generating plants, and of course, power them, then we would finally have constant power.
But If that is the case, then I don't think we should really be suffering as we're suffering right now. Because, we sure have the financial resources to build as many coal powered plants as we want to.
And talking about refining coal, I don't think the process of refining coal is as complex as that of petroleum. In fact, Coal refining should be as easy as ABC(exaggeration) because you don't need it in fractions, the coal you mine is almost basically the coal you burn, all that is needed is the removal of minor impurities.
I really find it difficult to believe that out problem lies in power generation. Because if it is, then, like I've written above, the ministry of power would have recommended the construction of multiple coal plants. If people could loot sum of monies as huge as $9m, $43m, $1.7b easily without trace, then you should know we have so much in our national purse to fund coal powered plants.

Except maybe we are considering the effects of global warming as a reason for not investing in coal powered power plants

First of all my post indicated that the problem of the power sector lies in financial/management resources not power generation per se.

If our financial resources were allocated to politicians' bank accounts then power infrastructural needs become an issue.
My point was that if the power sector was well funded we wont be having these issues, and that the current state of the economy is too weak to make this financial decision.

As simple as you describe coal refining, we have NONE in Nigeria because "financial resources" were not adequately going towards this sector after how many years of discovering coal in the east.
Though i read early this year that Milhouse is planning to work on that and the investment was $100m.

According to the Kemi Adeosun in a conference in lagos(theplatform), upto 90% of federal government's expenditure were recurrent and the remaining was on capital expenditure(that were not even taking seriously sef).
This made the possibility of funding projects like this thwarted.
And even if they is a willingness now, the financial resources are currently limited and the borrowings we've made have been majorly towards other capital projects.

What i'm saying is there is/was no cash going towards that sector, this is the cause of the state of our power sector...
More so, i can remember a news when it was reported that Nigerians pay one of the lowest on electricity bill across Africa - just saying.

Just30:
sorry but it's not an issuin Ghana any longer

What is no longer an issue?

4kings:

I doubt any of their wealth can sustain constant power supply for a country like Nigeria for even 5 years(including Dangote).
But hopefully the country grows better.

I doubt Dangote will make it to first 10 richest if our politicians assets and bank+cash balance are correctly calculated. Can you guess why he lobbies around every new ruling government?

I Do Hope We Grow Better.

greatface:
I doubt Dangote will make it to first 10 richest if our politicians assets and bank+cash balance are correctly calculated.

Might be true though.

Can you guess why he lobbies around every new ruling government?

Lobbies?
He has an established reputation already.

I Do Hope We Grow Better.

Amen to that.
Change starts with us.

4kings:

Might be true though.

Lobbies?
He has an established reputation already.

Amen to that.
Change start with us.

Yes I used lobbying to mean he has to keep his reputation and contracts going smothly else once terminated, he becomes irrelivant. Ibeto Group could be a good example.

But those politicians may have a different fate. IBB as an example.


By the way, you're awake aroud 3:00AM. That confirms you're a full blown programmer

greatface:
Yes I used lobbying to mean he has to keep his reputation and contracts going smothly else once terminated, he becomes irrelivant. Ibeto Group could be a good example.

But those politicians may have a different fate. IBB as an example.

Okay

By the way, you're awake aroud 3:00AM. That confirms you're a full blown programmer

Lol, apparently so are you.

Feraz, sorry for my late response. I am currently at Odukpani power plant conducting some test on their units.
Concerning the question, I have seen very true responses from some gentlemen. I didnt pick their names.
Reason we dont have power in Nigeria. First, the govt regulatory agencies e.g. NERC are not living up to their responsibilities.
They are not puting pressure on the DISCOs to meter their customers and also upgrade their hardwares. Hence the reason for load rejection and power outages. Here in Calabar, five units are available but there are only two producing energy and the grid frequency is 50.46hz which is quite high. Infact they had 3 on the grid but they were told to shutdown one because of high frequency. And I am very sure a lot of homes in Calabar do not have light at the moment.

Secondly, the law that states that energy generated must pass through our dilapidated grid system also is another reason. The grid is not capable of carrying all the energy generated. Our country needs to embrace the smart grid solution. If this is handled, I see a powerboom.
The FG managing power generation, transmission and distribution is another reason we dont have power. The FG has no business managing power. They should allow the states handle it.
Let me drop my pen here...

4kings:

First of all my post indicated that the problem of the power sector lies in financial/management resources not power generation per se.

If our financial resources were allocated to politicians' bank accounts then power infrastructural needs become an issue.
My point was that if the power sector was well funded we wont be having these issues, and that the current state of the economy is too weak to make this financial decision.

As simple as you describe coal refining, we have NONE in Nigeria because "financial resources" were not adequately going towards this sector after how many years of discovering coal in the east.
Though i read early this year that Milhouse is planning to work on that and the investment was $100m.

According to the Kemi Adeosun in a conference in lagos(theplatform), upto 90% of federal government's expenditure were recurrent and the remaining was on capital expenditure(that were not even taking seriously sef).
This made the possibility of funding projects like this thwarted.
And even if they is a willingness now, the financial resources are currently limited and the borrowings we've made have been majorly towards other capital projects.

What i'm saying is there is/was no cash going towards that sector, this is the cause of the state of our power sector...
More so, i can remember a news when it was reported that Nigerians pay one of the lowest on electricity bill across Africa - just saying.

I do understand you better now.
Thanks!