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Solving Nigeria’s Electricity Issues

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Electricity supply in Nigeria has always been on the low side ever since I became conscious as boy in my early years on earth.

The euphoric exclamation of “up NEPA” that used to rent the air, back then, any time electricity supply was restored after a long period of non-supply is what my little boy at home still shouts whenever electricity is restored, this time around, days after a long absence of electricity.

It is always of concern to me that in the over 100 years of the existence of Nigeria, 57 out of those years, as an independent state, we are still struggling to solve our electricity supply issues! The speaker of the House of Representatives recently lamented over our spending of over N2.74 trillion on electricity over the past years with no headway in solving our electricity problem. This is mind boggling , to say the least! Nigeria has been hovering between about 3,000 Megawatts and 4,600 Megawatts electricity generation for some time now and this often drops to below 2,000 Megawatts!

South Africa currently generates about 34,000 Megawatts and hopes to continue to improve on that going forward.

The long and short of this, is that Nigeria, with close to 200 million in population, has always fell far short of electricity supply to its populace and this carries a lot of negative consequences.

Some of the consequences of inadequate supply of electricity to the Nigerian population is the high cost of manufactured goods in the country due to the high volume and cost of diesel required to run the generators that power the machines in the production processes in the absence of electricity supply from the national grid.

There are even some machines that takes a whole day to heat up once power supply to them is disrupted, so, they rely solely on generators to power those machines due to the unreliable supply of electricity from the national grid.

We have heard, in some cases, of the relocation of manufacturing industries from Nigeria to neighboring countries such as Ghana where electricity seems to be more stable.

Many jobs that are electricity-related that would have been created and taken up by the teaming unemployed in the country cannot also be created because of lack of electricity.

Technology and its variants of innovations, of which electricity is a major one, has come to make our daily living much easier.

There is no doubt that the high unemployment rate we are presently facing in Nigeria can be drastically reduced with relatively stable supply of electricity.

Welding workshops, Barbing saloons, Hair dressing saloons, Internet Café, Fashion designers, Cold room operators, etc., will all thrive if they have access to stable electricity to run their businesses seamlessly. Importantly too, manufacturing will once again boom in Nigeria as factories will be able to run their machines at cheaper electricity rates compared to the exorbitant cost of running them presently on diesel generators. This means that there will be a reduction in the cost of production.

A reduction in the cost of production will also drive the prices of produced goods down, thus, making them affordable to the average Nigerian.

Further benefits of fixing the electricity issues in Nigeria is that our products will be able to compete for export, especially in our immediate African market due to low cost of production. This can, indeed, be the beginning of Nigeria earning serious foreign exchange from exports. Exports earnings can improve the strength of the Naira against stronger currencies like the Dollar and save us from the present foreign exchange imbroglio we find ourselves. Nigerians can then start to breathe a sigh of relieve.

The Disco’s increased electricity tariff sometime last year, not because there was any marked improvement in the supply of electricity to the populace, and with the support of NERC and the Ministry of Power.

About a year down the line, supply of electricity is still abysmally low, although the Minister of Power recently said we should expect a lot of improvement in power supply very soon. Interestingly, Meters have not been supplied to the majority of users, whether prepaid or otherwise, to record the actual cost of their electricity consumption, yet, estimated monthly bills, (sometimes, crazy bills), are sent to them.

The bills are sent whether the users had electricity supply during the month in question or not!

This area should be seriously looked into and checkmated for fair play, equity and justice to prevail in the sector.

One of the reasons adduced for the increase in tariff is that the Disco’s need to gather more funds to invest in new equipment so that there will be an improvement in the supply of electricity in the country.

The question is; have they bought those equipment and put thrm to use? I doubt this becsuse we are yet to see any improvement after one year of the increase in tariff. The truth is that no nation can be truly economically viable if its electricity sector is in the kind of crisis that ours is in Nigeria.

The issue of alternative sources of electricity should also be continued until everywhere is lighted up in Nigeria as I see that the government is already supplying solar electricity to some communities.

Technology has provided these other options and we should take advantage of them instead of relyi g only on hydro and thermal.

Earlier this month, the National Assembly organised a two-day stakeholders interactive dialogue on the power sector in Nigeria.

We can, therefore, expect to see positive changes very soon in the direction of improving the supply of electricity in Nigeria from the tesult of the deliberations.

Most importantly, prepaid meters should be provided to everyone connected to the Discos so that only electricity consumed will be paid for by the users. This will engender equity and fair play in the sector.

CFA is the Founder, www.CFAtech.ng & Co-producer/Presenter,Tech Trends on Channels Television

 


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Detained Binance executive drags EFCC, NSA to court

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Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan has has dragged the National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to court alleging violations of his fundamental rights.

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In a filing dated March 18 and presented by his lawyer Olujoke Aliyu from Aluko and Oyebode Law Firm, Gambaryan sought redress before Justice Inyang Ekwo, requesting five reliefs. Similarly, Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager who escaped custody on March 22, initiated a separate suit before Justice Ekwo.

Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, in the suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/356/24 and FHC/ABJ/CS/355/24, had sued the Office of NSA (ONSA) and EFCC as 1st and 2nd respondents.

Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform, alleged that his detention and the confiscation of his international travel passport violated Section 35 (1) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution, constituting a breach of his fundamental right to personal liberty. He further requested the court to order his immediate release and the return of his passport. Additionally, he sought an injunction preventing further detention related to any Binance investigations and demanded a public apology from the respondents, along with costs incurred.

Gambaryan stated that he visited Nigeria on February 26 alongside Nadeem Anjarwalla, representing Binance, in response to invitations from ONSA and EFCC. Despite attending the meeting as requested, both were detained afterward without formal charges.

During the court proceedings, T.J. Krukrubo, SAN, representing Anjarwalla and Gambaryan, informed the court of the respondents’ absence despite being served. Krukrubo also mentioned their notice of withdrawal of legal representation for Anjarwalla, filed on March 26.

Justice Ekwo noted the withdrawal of legal representation and adjourned the matter to April 8 to allow the applicants to seek new representation and give the respondents an opportunity to appear.

In Gambaryan’s case, Krukrubo stated that although the processes were served on ONSA and EFCC, they still had time to respond. He requested an adjournment, indicating that the respondents’ deadline to file their applications would expire the following week.

Consequently, Justice Ekwo scheduled the next hearing for April 8 to continue proceedings.


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AXA Mansard Empowers Female SMEs with Financial, Digital Skills

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AXA Mansard, a member of AXA has empowered 200 female Small and Medium Enterprises with financial literacy and digital business skills.

In collaboration with SME 100 Africa, the two-day training, which was held in Lagos, is part of AXA’s lined-up programmes to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day.

Speaking, Olusesan Ogunyooye, Head of Marketing AXA Mansard, said the training was aimed to empower female SME owners with skills to improve business output and position them for the increasing economic opportunities available in an increasingly digital marketplace.

Ogunyooye noted that the move was in line with AXA Mansard’s sustainability agenda, explaining that the company was convinced that support for women through its inclusive protection programmes was pivotal to its purpose of acting for human progress by protecting what matters and its mission of moving from being a payer to a partner.

He further said that focusing on digital skills was important because the company realised the importance of digital skills to the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria and wants to ensure that women were empowered enough to be a consequential part of that growth.

“It’s almost trite to say that SMEs are the engine for economic growth, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, where over 45 million adults are business owners. What needs to be continually discussed is how Nigeria is going to unlock that potential for economic development and how much of that potential will be unlocked by women and for women.”

“For us at AXA Mansard, we are aware that digital will play a major role in unlocking these current opportunities and Nigeria’s economic future. So, to ensure that women are equally represented in unlocking these future potentials, that’s why we have collaborated with SME 100 Africa to support them in developing the required skills”.

“Our choice of digital and financial literacy skills is deliberate. We understand the power of the duo. We understand that helping these SMEs with the skills to attract more customers will be a faster means to empower them.

“We see that they have amazing products and services, but they need to understand how to attract value for themselves by attracting the right customers, and you will agree with me that virtually all customer segments are online in one way or another today.

“So, if we can empower them with digital business skills, we would have helped them with the heavy lifting of trying to find and attract customers”. Ogunyooye explained.

According to him, AXA Mansard believes that for the world to experience progress truly, there must be an equitable distribution of creation and access to opportunities for men and women. This quest for balance informed the SHE for Shield initiative, a women-centred inclusive protection programme of AXA Mansard.

SHE for Shield is a group of initiatives designed for the Nigerian woman. The goal is to see them grow, add value, and help them mitigate risks at every step.

According to the company, research has found that access to health care is one of the most important things to Nigerian women, regardless of their economic segment. They desire to be financially independent, secure, and respected in the community.

 


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IFC Invests in New 4DX Ventures Fund to Support Tech Startups in Africa

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IFC is investing $10.5 million in a new fund by 4DX Ventures, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage African technology companies across a broad set of sectors, including fintech, e-commerce, edtech, climate tech, and health tech.

IFC’s investment in 4DX Ventures Fund III will come from IFC’s $225 million venture capital platform, which was launched last year to strengthen emerging VC ecosystems and invest in early-stage companies in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Pakistan.

Africa is among the regions least served by venture capital, receiving just 2% of global venture deal volume in the third quarter of 2023. Access to capital on the continent has been further exacerbated by a slowdown in global venture capital investment.

Tech ecosystems are nascent, or even nonexistent, outside of more established markets such as Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa.

“IFC and 4DX Ventures share the commitment to supporting tech entrepreneurs with innovations that will help Africa leapfrog in critical areas such as climate, health care, fintech, e-commerce, and education,” said Walter Baddoo, Co-Founder and General Partner of 4DX Ventures.

“We look forward to partnering with IFC to help promising tech startups build transformative businesses and realize sustainable development impact on the continent.”

4DX’s new fund will invest in companies with tech solutions that can improve productivity, efficiency and competitiveness across Africa. The firm’s first two funds invested in companies such as Egypt-based e-commerce platform MaxAB, an IFC portfolio company; Ghana-based health tech firm mPharma; and Kenya-based B2B e-commerce platform Wasoko, formerly known as Sokowatch.

“By supporting the development of tech ecosystems in emerging markets, IFC’s venture capital platform aims to improve access to key services, boost business competitiveness, and promote job creation through digital transformation,” said Mohamed Gouled, Vice President of Industries at IFC.

“Our investment in venture funds such as 4DX Ventures will help African entrepreneurs access more financing and resources they need to scale tech innovations and bolster sustainable growth across the continent.

In addition to providing capital, IFC will work with 4DX Ventures to implement their environmental and social management system.


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