How to Manage Nigerias Resources For Inclusive Growth

and National Development in Line With The Change Agenda

of The Federal Government.

Improving Nigerias Economy through Advances

in the Power Sector.
Nigeria is a country thats blessed with many natural
resources, we have the potential to achieve so much but yet we
havent. This is so because of the obvious embezzlement and
mismanagement of these said resources. Using our unreliable
power sector as a case, it is easy to see how some of Nigerias
natural resources are being under-utilized.
The power sector has been a sensitive arena that continually
attracts global attention and forms a top agenda on the to-do
list of all governments especially our current government. The
threat it poses to a countrys economic growth and
development is visible in the way each country of the world
seeks and exploit various alternative sources of generating
electricity in the most economical and environmental friendly
way.
Lots of work has already been done in Nigeria to curb the
existing power crisis, but each time, the result remains the
same. No matter how many power plants that are built or how
many promises that are made by the government, each and
every day, we all experience at least one power failure. A little
while back, the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) act made it
possible for independent power producers to obtain licenses
from the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to
generate electricity, but even that was not enough to save
Nigeria from this crisis. The big question on everybody's mind is
how do we tackle it.
A two pronged approach should be taken to solve this
problem, first things first, refurbishing already existing power
plants and establishment of new power plants with energy
sources relative to the available resources in the area they are
located.
With regards to refurbishing existing power plants, there
are about 21 power stations located in Nigeria. Each of these
said power plants run on hydro-electric, gas or steam based

How to Manage Nigerias Resources For Inclusive Growth

and National Development in Line With The Change Agenda
of The Federal Government.
power sources. As of 2010, it was estimated that the total
installed capacity of these power stations was about 10,897
Megawatts but the amount of power produced was only about
4076.2 Megawatts which is less than half of what was
expected. The shortage is owing to many problems in the
power sector such as; inadequate generation due to operational
and technical problems arising from machine breakdown and
low gas pressure; frequent major breakdowns arising from the
use of outdated and heavily overloaded equipment; poor
funding of the organisation (PHCNs sole source of revenue is
from tariffs which are the lowest in Africa) and many other
reasons. To solve these problems, proper management of the
gas and hydro powered plants present should be done. Each
plant should undergo a qualitative analysis of all the equipment
starting from the equipment in the power plant to the
transmission cable. The power sector should also receive
funding from the federal government the same way the
educational sector and entertainment sector have received
funding in the past. Both these sectors are overly dependent on
power for their effective day to day management, seeing as
these two sectors received funding, the power sector should
get the same treatment. This funding will thus enable the
various corporations to carry out adequate maintenance and
properly overhaul their systems for effective power generation.
Finally a new method of billing clients should also be
adopted so as to also increase funds for the power sector.
Adopting the American system of billing clients in which the
amount of power consumed by clients is recorded at the plant
and not at the consumer's house would be a good idea as it
would help curb the problem of illegal power connections.
Establishment of new power plants with energy sources
relative to the available resources in the area they are located
is perhaps the best course of action Nigeria can take now.
Renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind energy can
be adopted. Solar energy in particular shows great promise in
Nigeria.

How to Manage Nigerias Resources For Inclusive Growth

and National Development in Line With The Change Agenda
of The Federal Government.
The total amount of energy that the earth receives daily is
1353Watts/m2. One of the greatest assets that Nigeria has that
can facilitate solar energy generation is her geographical
location (equatorial region which is full of large quantity solar
radiation capacity between 3.5Kilowatts/m per day 7.0Kilowatts/m per day) and average sunshine daily of 4-7
hours. Nigeria lies within a sunshine belt and thus has
enormous solar energy potentials. If solar collectors were used
to cover 1% of Nigerias land area, it would be possible to
generate 1850x103watts/hr of solar electricity per year. This is
over 100 times the current grid electricity consumption level in
the country.
If we divide Nigeria into different regions, for example, the
North, South and the middle belt, we can determine the forms
of energy that can be generated in each region according to the
best energy resource it possesses. The middle belt as well as
the north should embrace solar energy as the grassy plains
present there are ideal for solar panel installations. Small solar
plants should be set up for every township or village, but each
area should still be connected to the national power grid. In
doing this, each area will still be receiving power from the
national grid which will then be augmented by the power they
receive from the solar plants.
The south houses one of Nigerias most essential natural
resource, which is crude oil and natural gas. Nigeria produces
over 3.5billion cubic feet of gas annually of which 70% is
wasted via flaring due to unavailable storage containers. In
other to minimize waste, proper piping should be done to
transfer these flared gases to the various gas powered plants. A
possible gas storage firm should be developed to help reduce
the amount of gas being flared to the minimum.
There is no better way to express the growth of Nigeria
than when we no longer have to endure the shame of constant
power outages and there is no better way to improve the
economy than to provide adequate power for investors and
business owners.

How to Manage Nigerias Resources For Inclusive Growth

and National Development in Line With The Change Agenda
of The Federal Government.