Roadmap to Power Sector Reform in Nigeria

The availability of reliable Electric Power to the homes and businesses of our citizens has been one item in our national life that we have approached with so much hope and yet experienced so much frustration over the past decades. Various regimes, in the distant past, paid little attention to the sector but in the recent decades, subsequent regimes have put in billions of naira to reverse the neglect and mismanagement which has characterised the sector... Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria.

As President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I and my Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo, GCON, are conscious that what we do with the Nigerian electricity supply industry will go a long way in determining whether Nigeria remains in darkness or joins the rest of the world in the race for development. Our commitment is to bring an end to our nation's stunted growth and usher in the fresh air of prosperity by pursuing a new era of sector-wide reform which is driven by improved service delivery to every class of customers in the Nigerian electricity sector.

The full implementation of the Electric Power Sector Reform has been a key priority for this administration. We established the Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP) with a view to eliminating red tape and the often over-bureaucratic and inefficient nature of decision-making in government. I commend all members of the PACP, including key stakeholders and heads of institutions.

The Presidential Task Force on Power is the engine room that drives the vision of the PACP. The Task Force has the mandate to develop the Roadmap and provide monitoring to ensure effective implementation of the plan. Their activities will introduce a greater degree of transparency to the way in which we implement the reforms and greater accountability on the part of those responsible.

In developing this Roadmap we have built on the solid foundation laid down in 2001/2002 by the adoption of the National Electric Power Policy, and in 2005 with the promulgation of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act. This Roadmap heralds our advance to the final and very important stage in the reform process. This is the stage where we ensure that the fundamental changes to the ownership, control and regulation of the sector envisaged by the legislation are achieved and the downstream benefits are realised.

In the same way that the reforms in the telecommunications sector paved the way for the benefits we all enjoy today, we believe that with diligent implementation and meticulous application of what this Roadmap provides, we will see an end to the chronic electric power supply shortages we know too well, and witness the birth of a modern, efficient, customer focused, private sector driven electricity supply industry. We have the will. This Roadmap shows the way.

Introduction and Executive Summary

The growth, prosperity and national security of any country is critically dependent upon the adequacy of its electricity supply industry. Indeed the link between electricity supply and economic development is such that the health of the industry is a matter of deep and personal concern to all citizens. Nigeria is no exception. Over the past two decades, the stalled expansion of Nigeria's grid capacity, combined with the high cost of diesel and petrol generation, has crippled the growth of the country's productive and commercial industries.

It has stifled the creation of the jobs which are urgently needed in a country with a large and rapidly growing population; and the erratic and unpredictable nature of electricity supply has engendered a deep and bitter sense of frustration that is felt across the country as a whole and in its urban centres in particular. Electricity consumers and the citizenry as a whole demand a fundamental reversal of the long and debilitating malaise which has blighted the industry and, in doing so, bridled the tremendous energy and creativity of this great and populous nation. More particularly they demand real and immediate improvements in service levels. In response to this demand, the Federal Government will not pretend that the task ahead will be an easy one. But it is determined to root out the canker which lies at the very heart of the industry. More particularly, the Federal Government has stressed the need to return to the task of pursuing the fundamental changes to the ownership, control and regulation of the sector that have been outlined in the National Electric Power Policy (2002) and enshrined in the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act of 2005.

To meet our Vision 20:2020 target of 40,000MW will require investments in power generating capacity alone of at least US$ 3.5 billion per annum for the next 10 years. Correspondingly large investments will also have to be made in the other parts of the supply chain (i.e. the fuel-to-power infrastructure and the power transmission and distribution networks). These sums cannot and will not be funded and directed by the Federal Government. Rather, central to the development of the sector will be the need to incentivise the private sector to partner with government in this endeavour. At the same time, however, the Federal Government is acutely aware that improvements in service levels cannot wait until the industry has been commercialised. The Government is, therefore, taking active steps to ensure modest but genuinely realisable improvements in the amount and quality of electricity supplied to customers in all regions of the country.

In summary, this Roadmap outlines our plan to accelerate the pace of activity with respect to reforms already mandated under the EPSR Act and, at the same time and in support of this, a renewed drive to improve on short term service delivery....

Foreword by

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR

President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces

Federal Republic of Nigeria