Energy
Cleaner Energy: Kyari calls for Differentiated Energy Transition for Africa
…says FID on Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline to be taken in December
BY SAM OTUONYE
As global calls for transition to cleaner energy fuels continue to grow, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Ltd. Mr. Mele Kyari has advocated for a differentiated approach to attaining energy transition for the African continent.
Kyari, who also revealed that the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Nigeria Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) Project will be taken in December 2024, made the call while speaking during a Leadership Dialogue Session at the ongoing CERAWeek Conference in Houston, United States, on Tuesday.
According to a press statement by the company’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Sonoye, the GCEO noted that energy transition is a very difficult subject for countries especially in sub-saharan Africa because geographically, the situations are different as a number of the countries are dealing with energy availability, not transition, and energy availability is closely linked to energy security.
“The world has seen all the challenges thrown up recently by geopolitical events. It is clear that before energy transition, countries must first attain security of energy supply in their countries. You cannot talk about energy security when it is not even available. In most sub-Saharan Africa, 70% of the population don’t have access to clean cooking fuels. Therefore, you must fill the supply gap first,” the GCEO stated.
He said although people talk about using the renewables to close the energy transition gap, the money for the renewables too must be found.
“If you insist on completing substitution today, then you have to deal with the problem of supply. For us today, the transition must be differentiated. Even if Africa decides to switch off its fossil fuels, it only accounts for just about 3% of the entire global emissions,” the GCEO added.
He said today, NNPC Ltd’s focus is to build its capacity to deliver gas to the domestic market and beyond. As a gas-endowed country, Nigeria must utilize its abundant gas resources to provide the alternative fuel that it needs.
“We understand the arguments towards attaining energy transition, but the cheapest way to achieve that is through gas. We see clear opportunities that gas creates. Today we are building a number of trunklines and other gas infrastructure that will supply gas to a number of gas networks,” Kyari noted.
The GCEO said there is an ongoing engagement on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project (NMGP), which is at an advanced stage, to create a pipeline that will pass through thirteen African countries and all the way to Europe, hinting that the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the $25bn Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) Project will be made by December, 2024.
He stated that as the largest oil and gas company and corporate entity in Africa, the NNPC Ltd is critical to Nigeria’s resource management and economic development, noting that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 has reformed Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, by ensuring that the NNPC Ltd emerged as a fully commercial entity that is not only accountable and responsible to its shareholders, but also one that is on the pathway of getting quoted on the Stock Exchange.
Kyari said Nigeria is fighting the menace of crude oil theft frontally and through the joint efforts of government and private security agencies, there has been some reasonable improvements in the restoration of the nation’s crude oil production.
“It is an abnormal situation, but it is well within control. We were able to recover some of our production and build back confidence so that investors can bring in their money. We are also doing global advocacy to governments and institutions, because stolen oil has to be taken to the market,” he stated.
He said an example of the improved security situation was when in 2022, Nigeria’s production fell below 1 million barrels per day, which was restored to 1.7 million barrels per day.
CERAWeek is one of the largest energy conferences in the world, drawing thousands of foremost global energy industry experts and a host of other corporate and government leaders from around the world annually to Houston, United States for a week-long conversation on the future of energy.
$250m power projects in 15 universities will guarantee sustainable energy in next 50yrs – REA
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is optimistic that its $250 million Nigerian Electrification Project (NEP), currently being implemented under the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) in 15 universities and teaching hospitals will guarantee sustainable energy in the next 20 to 50 years.
This was disclosed by the REA Managing Director Engr. Abba Aliyu, during the EEP Stakeholders’ Engagement Forum (SEF) in Abuja.
Aliyu said: “The universities that have benefited from the deployment of these infrastructures are the lucky ones.
“But we cannot see ourselves as being successful without ensuring for those that are ongoing completion of the projects and at the same time ensuring the sustainability of these projects for over 20 to 50 years.
“That is only when we will now look back and say we have succeeded.”
He said that a sustainability framework has been established for the projects because of the huge public fund that has been committed to it.
“The most important thing is ensuring the implementation and sustainability of these projects. A lot of money has been committed, and public sector funding of over $250m has been in both phase two and three of this project to deploy these infrastructure, build a distribution network to upgrade substations, to meter all the connecting areas within the universities and at the same time to build a world-class training centre and establish a foundation of training students within these universities in renewable energy” Aliyu said.
He further explained that public funds have been committed to engaging different consultants who have reviewed phase one, and who have also reviewed different international projects of similar kind to come up with the sustainability plan.
He urged all the stakeholders to commit to the completion and operation of the power plans and also commit to their sustainability.
Giving a recap of the event, NEP, Head, Olufemi Akinyelure, revealed that phase three of the project will be due for commissioning by the first quarter of 2025.
He explained that phase three is the latest phase with eight universities and one teaching hospital.
He added: “We have started work. Preliminary work has started, and civil work has started. Equipment has been ordered, some of which have started landing already and we are very hopeful that by the first quarter of next year, we will start commissioning those universities as well.”
Akinyelure said the conversation of the event was built around the need to agree on a very implementable plan and operationalization of the plans.
He said it was also about how to distinguish between the operationalization in the short to medium term and the sustainability of the plan in the medium to long term. A lot of the universities, he said, were pleased to learn that the power would not be free.
He stressed: “I think they were happy to receive that news. But on a serious note, we were able to give examples and this is the importance of phase one universities. We were able to give examples of even universities that still enjoy these solar projects to date but are already looking at the end of life of this equipment and wondering how this equipment will be replaced.”
The NEP, however, said it was obvious to everybody that day that there needs to be a commercial case behind the projects moving forward.
But he insisted that “We can enjoy these assets for as long as we need for these projects to last.”
According to him, the NEP is implemented in collaboration and funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
He revealed that occasionally, NEP gets missions from the World Bank, and members of their top management to see on the ground the impact of the projects in Nigeria first-hand themselves.
Continuing, he said “So we were at the community in Dahaji Mini-grid point, a community that hadn’t had power in years. And that mini-grid has been running for over two years now. So they are here to see firsthand the commercial activities that have been brought on board into that mini-grid and other additional activities that have been ignited by that mini-grid.”
…Resolves 5,067 out of 7,207 complaints received
BY AKUDORO GLORIA
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has stated that its Customer Complaints Unit (CCU) resolved a total of 5,067 complaints out of 7,207 complaints received, reflecting a 70.31 per cent resolution rate in 2023.
The Commission made this known in its 2023 Annual Report and Accounts which was published on its official website. The disclosure is in accordance with the Electricity Act (EA) enacted in 2023 which repealed the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) of 2004 and other acts regulating the Nigerian electricity market.
As part of its reporting obligation, as enshrined in Section 34(1)(g) of the EA, the Commission published four quarterly reports (Q1-Q4) of its activities for 2023. The reports analysed the state of the Nigerian electricity industry, covering operational and commercial performances, regulatory functions and consumer affairs.
According to the report under review, each quarterly report provided a summary of the Commission’s financial position, in compliance with Section 56(1) of the EA, which mandates proper accounts and record-keeping of all activities, funds, and properties of the Commission.
A breakdown of the 2023 report showed that metering, billing, and service interruption issues were the most common customer complaints, accounting for 82.82% (5,969) of the total complaints at the NERC-CCU in 2023.
A category overview of complaints received at the NERC-CCU in the year under review shows that – Billing has the highest figure with a total of 271 5 (37.67%), next is Metering totalling 2,367 (32.84%), Service Interruption with 887 (12.31%), Disconnection is 412 (5.72%), Voltage Interruption with 149 (2.07%), Delay in Connection with 75 (1.04%), Non-compliance with 71 (0.99%), Load shedding with 26 (0.36%), and other complaints with 505 ( 7.01%).
The report further indicated that the total number of complaints received across all DisCos-CCU in 2023 was 1,220,245 out of which, 1,156,553 were resolved, corresponding to a 94.78 per cent resolution rate just like the complaints received at the NERC-CCU, metering, billing, and service interruption were the most common complaints issues accounting for 77.55 per cent.
Under category of complaints received at the DisCos-CCU in 2023, indicated that – Metering issues was the highest with a total of 638,322 (53.09%), Billing issues accumulated 195,979 (16.30%), Service Interruption with a total of 98,134 (8.16%), Disconnection with 17,980 (1.50%), Voltage Interruption raked 17,801 (1.48%), Delay in Connection with 9,355 (0.78%), and Load shedding received 6,487 (0.54%) and other complaints received a total of 218,240 (18.15%).
“There was a total of 10,144 active appeals (6,387 new appeals and 3,757 pending appeals from 2022) across all Forum Offices in 2023. The Forum Offices held 359 sittings in 2023 and resolved 60.93% of the total active appeals. Billing, metering and disconnection were the most prevalent complaints within the year, accounting for 61.41%, 23.90% and 5.28% of the total respectively,” the report revealed.
To further drive growth and consolidate its oversight functions, NERC issued two (2) new regulations and sixteen (16) Orders to licensees in 2023.
The Customer Protection Regulation (CPR) with registration no. (NERC-R-001-2023) was issued in March 2023 in line with the Commission’s customer service standards and international best Regulations practices; whilst Mini-grid (NERC-R-117-2023) was issued in December 2023 as a replacement of the Mini-grid Regulations of 2016 following a series of public and stakeholder consultations.
Following the satisfactory evaluation of applications, NERC issued 118 licenses, permits and certifications in 2023. The following represents the number of licenses/permits issued: On-grid generation – 1, Off-grid generation – 8, IEDN – 7, Trading Licence – 5, Embedded generation – 3, Captive power – 15, Mini-grid registration – 28, Mini-grid permit – 18, Meter service providers permit – 24, and MAP permit – 9. Totalling 118.
Under compliance monitoring and enforcement, the Commission revealed that its issued twelve (12) Rectification Directives (RD) and four (4) Notices of Intention to Commence Enforcement Actions (NICE) against licensees for violations of rules and infractions, which include non-compliance with the Commission’s orders, directives and rulings as well as failure to comply with forum panel decisions without filing appeals within the stipulated timeframe.
Furthermore, the Commission, in the year under review held three (3) Stakeholders consultation workshop organized to facilitate capacity building and adoption of the EA 2023 and discussed crucial industry issues and reviewed compliance and performance, following a two-day stakeholders workshop on the implementation of the new EA 2023.
Energy
Vandalism of National Assets: Power Minister Partners Civil-Military Committee on Energy Security
BY AKUDORO GLORIA
The Federal Government has began moves aimed at protecting the nation’s critical power infrastructure as it ramps efforts towards providing quality, stable and affordable electricity to Nigerians.
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, while hosting members of the Civil-Military Committee on Energy Security, in his office, said the issue of vandalism has been a major concern to the Federal Government, particularly on critical national assets, adding that the matter is being handled with all the seriousness it deserves.
He challenged Nigerians to take ownership of such national assets as continous debasing of such national assets would continue to retard the nation’s development and efforts to provide electricity to Nigerians.
The Minister said that to demonstrate the commitment of the Federal Government to providing electricity to Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu assented to the legislation to deregulate the power sector, thereby making the sector free of the encumbrances that had hindered its efficient performance.
“This meeting with you today is very important and critical to us all. We must let the vandals know that it will never be business as usual. We all know what these vandals have done to our national asset. Daily, they deprived us of providing stable and affordable electricity to homes, industries, and to all critical sectors of our economy. That cannot continue and that is what we are determined to achieve.
“As a critical stakeholder, we appreciate your concern and the effort you have put in to help us secure our assets. Let me say here that power is instrumental to all we do and the protection of its infrastructure should be the greatest concern of all of us as Nigerians”, the Minister said.
As part of efforts to improve and build on existing infrastructure, Adelabu disclosed that he has taken measures to discard old structures that successive governments have ignored in addressing the problems with power supply to Nigerians.
“It is shameful for a nation of over 200 million people to still be on 5000 megawatts of electricity at this age. Let me tell you that some of the transformers we are still using today are 64 years old. How to you want such to give you what you desire at this age? Those maintaining them do not even understand them again. This is a reflection of the actions and inactions of the past 60 years. We have not done what is right in this sector in the past 60 years and that is what we are correcting now.
“So, it is the desire of President Tinubu to move away from this narrative and give Nigerians what they deserve in terms of energy and power supply and that is what we are set to achieve in the ministry now. We want to eradicate energy poverty among Nigerians. Our focus now is to engender a new energy development for Nigeria that will make electricity available to all Nigerians, where they reside.
“The power sector is a priority to this government and when we get it right here, all other sectors will also get it right”, he said.
The minister commended members of the group for their patriotism, zeal and commitment to safeguarding the nation’s assets and admonished them to continue in that spirit, and also promised the ministry’s co-operation and collaboration with them in their assignment.
According to him, the protection of the nation’s assets should be the collective responsibility of all Nigerians.
Chief Adelabu who intimated the group of the ministry’s mandate and how those mandates would be realised in the new dispensation, emphasized that part of the challenges the ministry is facing is the refusal of some Nigerians to pay for the electricity they consumed while some others bye pass their meters thereby not paying for what they consumed, saying that such power theft has not been helpful to the transformation that the Federal Government desires in the power sector.
Speaking about the Ministry’s activities in the last one year of taking over the power, the Minister informed the group that within his one year in the office, he had been able to increase generation from 4000 that he inherited to over 5000 megawatts.
“By August 21, I will be one year in office. Due to the policy initiative that President Tinubu has put in place and which we have vigorously pursed, we have been able to increase our megawatts from 4000 that we inherited to 5050. We are moving and we will get better as we move ahead. But Nigerians must co-operate with us. We have consumers who refused to pay their bills. We have the issue of power theft. All these must stop as we intensify our efforts to serve Nigerians better”, he said.
On his part, the leader of the group, Mr. Adams Otako said the importance of the energy sector in the nation’s development motivated their desire to embark on their effort to provide security for such national assets.
According to him, the Committee was formed in 2019 and they have devoted their time towards guarding the assets of the country in their little way.
“We believe that the energy sector is the bedrock of the National security. Guarding it is a collective responsibility and we want to also tell Nigerians that until we begin the ownership of governance, we can not develop. If the power sector does not function properly, we cannot function maximally as a nation and as a people.
“We also realised that a lot of your engagements and policies are often misunderstood by people. We want you to take us along, so that in such circumstances, we can relay the truth and say, ‘stop that propaganda.
“We are made up of patriotic Nigerians. When we wanted to form the committee, we approached the Defence headquarters and that is why you can see that we have virtually all the security agencies present among us. We also have as our member the National Orientation Agency . We have the Civil Defence, the State Security Department, the Fire Service, other civil society groups among us” Otako said.
Obi hails Anambra hospital for performing free heart surgeries to 117 patients
How Peter Obi Overpaid Us – Cleric
Kebbi plans to abolish multiple taxation to allow small, medium enterprise to flourish
-
News2 months agoFCTA expresses support to promote tourism development in Abuja
-
News2 months agoSenator Wadada feeds over 150 orphans in 4 orphanages
-
Business2 months agoNNPC Ltd denies allegations of owing $6.8bn to int’l oil firms, others
-
Education2 months agoPrepare to go with your child over altercation with teachers – Commissioner warns parents
-
News2 months agoJubilation as abducted Commissioner, wife regain freedom 24hrs after
-
News2 months agoSERAP threatens to sue Akpobio, Abba over NASS monthly running costs
-
News2 months agoListen to Anyaoku, Abdulahi, Nwafor – Orizu tells Tinubu
-
Economy2 months agoTaxation: Essential Knowledge for Nigerian Children