A whitepaper that sheds light on the need to pay focused attention to the power sector in Nigeria.

1. Author: Bekeme Masade

2. INTRODUCTION
2 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?
If all major countries are looking to move away from fossil fuel and hydro carbons, what is
our next strategic move in Nigeria? Yes, there has been talk that this transition will not
happen in the next five to 10 years and that there are currently no electric cars/engines that
can replace the fleet of trucks, earth-moving equipment, military equipment, trains and
ships, but 20 years flies by very quickly and let’s not forget that Elon Musk has hinted that a
Tesla truck is ‘quite likely’ in the future.
As Nigeria, if we say that we still have an abundance of oil that we will use and that we will
use our fuel for local consumption – which could be a good thing for the short to medium
term, because even if manufacturing countries like UK, France and China stop the
manufacture of fossil-fueled cars by 2040, there will still be a large percentage of fuel-
powered cars that would need fuel - who then would we will refine for us, who will
manufacture the fuel refining equipment, nuts and bolts, and other equipment we will use?
Let’s not forget that oil is used for many things other than powering cars. Diverse industries
including cosmetics, medical, packaging, electrical and chemical will continue to rely on
refined oil; meaning the demand never goes away.

3. It is critical and interesting to note that countries are not all going the same way. While countries like
India, Germany and the rest of Scandinavia are going the electric/renewable energy route, US is
developing its own shale oil/fracking independence, with President Trump himself clearly showing his
lack of belief in the climate change story (reinforced by his budget cutting for all related matter to the
apex body for trans-continental peace and unity, the United Nations). The important thing is that they
have a vision, a goal – including finance, climate change mitigation, world domination – to achieve and
they set off with a game plan.
My point is that at the old age of 57, scenario planning is ever more crucial for Nigeria and it is (will be
shocking) if Nigeria and certain aspects of its leadership is still banking on oil exploration as our major
source of revenue for any longer than 20 years. How can we build competencies that would make us a
leader in something other than digging out a freely gotten resource? What are solid steps towards
refining the oil for diverse industries beyond automobiles? Is there a place for mining and refining
resources required for manufacturing? Is there opportunity for gas? How can our industries develop
and work together cohesively?
3 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?.

4. But, wait a moment here. How do we build the industry to back any grandiose vision for sustained
development when the backbone for industrialisation – power generation – is lacking? In order to do
these things, we need good and steady supply of electricity, right? For instance, word on the street is
that users of Sahara Energy of Nigeria’s hybrid-fuel and electricity cars – a fantastic initiative of Sahara,
by the way - dare not recharge their cars at their homes for fear of damaging either car or their paltry
source of power. The cars have to be recharged under controlled, specially powered office electricity.
In essence, whether we want to develop micro industry – a barber’s shop, a mama-put centre,
technology hubs – or mega industry - develop our own supplies of cars and other technology powered
by renewable sources, build IT mammoths of industry, produce power for sale or build state-of the-art
refineries - stable and consistent power generation is necessary; especially through safe energy-mix
sources.
4 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?.

5. 5 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?
Net generation of power plants for public power supply. (Graphic: Prof Bruno Burger, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar
Energy Systems ISE: 50 Hertz, Amprion, Tennet, TransnetBW, Destatis, EEX Last update: 07 Oct 2017 09:28)

6. There are a few quick adjustments we can look at as a nation. As I was taught at Harvard, the
challenges many countries, governments and leaders, face are technical and adaptive. Our major
technical challenge with our current electricity generation infrastructure is the inefficiency of our
transmission. We have privatised electricity generation companies (GenCos) and electricity
distribution companies (DisCos) but have left electricity transmission (TransCos) in limbo.
6 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?
Source: http://sparkonline.com.ng/2017/01/understanding-the-nigerian-power-sector-gencos.html

7. 7 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?
One cannot say categorically that this privatisation of generation and distribution has been wholly
successful, as we still witness stories of remittance of only a fraction of profit to government.
However, while government has argued that transmission is far too strategic to hand over to market
forces – fearing that they could possibly hijack and ransom the nation at will - there is certainly room
for a hybrid organisation, managed by both government and efficient business; partnered through a
transparent procurement process.
If government and business deal with technical, it behoves the general citizenry to pay their dues; a
major headache of discos. Unfortunately, this unbecoming disregard for the contractual handshake
with discos cuts across different socio-economic groups; from Ajegunle to Lekki, from Ikeja GRA to
Awoyaya. This has to change.
We can also incentivise renewable energy solutions which would put power generation in the
average man’s hands. We are blessed with an abundance of solar, biomass, sea, and almost any God-
given renewable resource imaginable. If in Germany of 2016, renewable sources account for 33.9%
of the net electricity production, a leap from 2012 supply where all renewable energy accounted for
21.9% of electricity, with wind turbines and photovoltaic (solar) providing 11.9% of the total – why
then can we not put to good use, our lovely scorching sun and sea this side of the Sahara?

8. 8 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?
Many nations – Australia, Brazil, China - have developed national and state incentivisation policies to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to address climate change; a noble thing to do for
generations to come. I especially love Australia’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES); a
system that works with households to purchase and set up a small renewable energy system at
home. These household owners can then sell the energy they produce or even earn credits by
reducing overall energy consumption. If we are looking for a less altruistic reason other than unborn
generations, we can at least see the promotion of renewables as a means of generating jobs and
income. In 2010 alone in Germany – the world’s first major renewable energy economy” - some
370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector, especially in small and medium-
sized companies.
We can dream big Nigeria; after all, but for dreamers like Harriet Tubman, the Moses of her people,
and Frederick Douglass, the first black Marshall who took those first steps, many slaves in 18th
century America never dreamt they would one day be free men, talk less of President. We just need
to ‘power’ our dreams, through focus, key stakeholder engagement, a holistic, cross-functional and
measurable national plan, and of course, consistent power supply.

9. Retrospect
1. The Reality of Nigeria’s Recession Exit: Between GDP Growth and Sustainable
Development – Bekeme Masade (Sep 16th, 2017) http://csr-in-
action.org/single_news_insights/the-reality-of-nigerias-recession-exit
2. Sand Dredging in Nigeria’s Waterways: Between the Economic Boom and
Environmental Doom - Bekeme Masade (Sept 2nd, 2017) http://csr-in-
action.org/single_news_insights/sand-dredging-in-nigerias-waterways
3. Towards The Bleak Future of Crude Oil: What Nigeria Should Do Now - Bekeme
Masade (Aug 12th, 2017) http://csr-in-action.org/single_news_insights/towards-the-
bleak-future-of-crude-oil
4. Nigeria’s 7 Strategic Minerals: Our Alternative to Clean Energy? - Bekeme
Masade (Aug 12th, 2017) http://csr-in-action.org/single_news_insights/nigerias-7-
strategic-mineral-resources
5. Why Extractive-Based Nations Fail: Between Resource and Knowledge-Based
Economies - Bekeme Masade (Aug 12th, 2017) http://csr-in-
action.org/single_news_insights/why-extractive-based-nations-fail-between-
resource-and-knowledge-based-economies
9 | Power: Nigeria's Most Immediate and Pressing Challenge?

10. About
CSR-in-Action is a conglomerate of 3 sustainability driven
businesses; Consulting, Training and Advocacy. Our mission is to
redefine the sustainability terrain in Africa, through collaborative
strategies with key stakeholders aimed at attaining higher levels of
corporate governance, workplace and sustainable philanthropy.
We have a clear vision to propel collective transformative action in
Africa by promoting responsibility amongst all entities in their day-
to-day individual or business activities.
Contact:
54, Udeco Medical Road,
Chevron Drive, Lekki Phase1,
Lagos State.
234-807-688-4871
info@csr-in-action.org
www.csr-in-action.org