Fierce urgency for power and energy security
A leader is remembered for one or more achievements or a single defining failure. The achievements become records to be beaten. The single defining failure streaks into the minds of citizens, percolating, simmering from top to bottom and is passed from one generation to the other more especially when the failure is a debt-financed uncompleted […]
A leader is remembered for one or more achievements or a single defining failure. The achievements become records to be beaten. The single defining failure streaks into the minds of citizens, percolating, simmering from top to bottom and is passed from one generation to the other more especially when the failure is a debt-financed uncompleted project or projects.
PMB will be remembered for fulfilling the promises he made to the nation and the renewed courage to tackle the “The Fierce Urgency of now”: Provision of power and energy security to the nation. Coined by civil right leader, late Dr. Martin Luther King and popularized by former US President Barak Obama,” Fierce Urgency of Now” connotes the sense of seriousness, frequency, spread, depth, and of a damaging menace or ills in a society that require immediate attention and action.
Provision of power and energy security to the nation constitutes the single defining failure of past regimes since the return to democracy in 1999. Nigeria is one of the countries in the world with the largest crude oil and gas reserves. It has some of the largest rivers and water shades in the world. It has sun light throughout the year and strong winds. Yet she imports refined oil, liquefied gas, diesel and petrol powered generators. To underline the importance of power and energy to an economy certain countries with or without natural endowments have declared a revolution on the sector to remain designer and producer nations while others remain consumer nations.
For Nigeria to provide the basic necessities of life, security, reduce the cost of living, cost of production on sustainable basis and for the economy to be competitive, a revolution in the power and energy sector is called for.
The major components of the revolution include the completion of the Mambila Hydro Electric, Kashimbila, Dadin Kowa Hydro Electric Power Projects, the Kaduna, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin, Uyo and other Power projects. Others include Gas power projects in existing oil and gas fields and newly discovered oil and gas fields , wind power projects, solar power projects, Biomass power plants and even Nuclear power projects. Completion of these projects to a reasonable level will be a water shade in the power and energy sector of the economy.
The power and energy security arising from these projects will put Nigeria on a sustainable growth and development path and will not only make Nigeria a comfortable partner in the third and the fourth Industrial revolution but prepare her for any future Industrial revolution. An ambitious program of this magnitude and importance cannot come without challenges that include funding, technical knowhow, sincere development partners, political risks, energy storage, goodwill, attitude and time to mention a few.
Funding from within and outside is a major challenge. The good news is that the sector is a growth area and highly profitable. The Saudi ARAMCO is an example. It is the most profitable company in the world. It is going for the largest IPO in history that will jerk up its value to about two trillion dollars. Investors always rush because of assured and short payback period. On technical knowhow, Nigeria now produces one of the best engineers and technicians in the world. Technology adaptation and customization is easy with highly skilled and experienced graduates.
With PMB in power, Nigeria can now transact from position of strength and trust. Our transactional reputation has been enhanced. The willingness with which countries now want to partners with Nigeria gives latitude to select sincere partners. Nigeria is no more a political risk. Transitions from one government of a different political party to another have been smooth and successful, and no one expect to a group to seize power forcefully in Nigeria again. There is consistency of policies and procedures and corruption has been reduced to the lowest level. Energy experts have always brought to forefront the problem of energy storage. To store energy you have to use lithium battery.
They point out that dams are incapable of storing energy. That has been put to lie by a report of research findings by the Harvard International Review and Fareed Zakaria’s GPS (2018) Review on the Hoover dam project. The dam will very soon be turned into a battery. Cheap wind and solar powered pump will pump water dawn stream to the lake Mead- the name given to the reservoir- upstream that feeds the dam which could be released to generate electricity when needed. The same technology could be applied to all our hydro-electric projects in Nigeria. Goodwill is another area to look into it. Rivers that pass through many countries become source of conflict when dammed upstream. The recent case of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Eretria is vivid in the minds of observers. Nigeria and Cameroon have had disputes on water released or held. Even at home goodwill could be scarce sometimes.
After the report on the discovery of oil and gas in some parts of the country, a Nigerian sulking said “The era of oil and gas is over”. The era of fossil fuel will not be over. Scientists working at MIT, Harvard, Imperial college England, Japan, Australia and King Abdul-Aziz University Saudi Arabia have succeed in splitting water molecule(H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and Oxygen(O2). The H2 come from fossil is energy and is used in manufacturing hydrogen bombs. Even in the ITER project hydrogen is the most important component. The splitting effort is creating the indispensability of fossil fuel.
Recent estimates show that one ton of fossil will generate twice the energy ten tons of batteries can. There must be attitudinal changes. Utilities are seen as providers of free services. A manage saying goes “There is no free lunch”. Nigerians must be ready to pay for services this sector will provide.
Lack of power and energy has been standing on the ways to our prosperity. These projects are not glory-seeking projects. They are legacy projects like the Kainji dam, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri Ports projects, ABU, ,Ife, UNN, Ibadan, Lagos Universities projects, Lagos to Kano, Port Harcourt to Maiduguri roads and railway projects, Murtala Mohammed and Mallam Aminu Kano International airports projects that were the bedrock and levers for modern Nigeria.
Our population growth, requirements for our basic needs, our ambitions, challenges arising from the convergence of the third and fourth Industrial revolutions in the 21st century have created, and will create demand for power and energy that only power and energy regeneration is the answer. The good news is that we have the infrastructure, excellent leadership and we are now enjoying some form of relief from the insurgency in the North East and Niger Delta. Border closer has improved internal security.
Nonetheless, a power and energy revolution requires goodwill, understanding, advocacy, education, enlightenment and time, more especially one that foreign inputs are inevitable. When these projects are fully afoot, the synergy and promises they hold for the present, future and generations yet unborn will convince Nigerians to give PMB and Prof. Osibanjo unalloyed loyalty, full support, required time and prayers to address “The fierce Urgency of now”.
Ayuba Buba Kinafa is a management consultant in Gombe.