Sokoto and the IPP
challenge
By Ibrahim Adeleke
Saturday,
September
13 , 2008
Not a few questions have been asked by laymen and informed
persons alike, on the recently announced decision of the Sokoto
State government to embark on Independent Power Generating
System project, separate from the national framework for the
state.
Why the prioritization of an independent power project, when
there are legion other areas begging for attention in the
state essentially an agrarian state, practically bereft of
industries. The question is what would Sokoto State do with
the expected abundant power supply when the project comes
up stream?
Besides the glaring dearth of indigenous manpower needed to
meet the highly technical demands of operating the project,
skeptics have also expressed doubt about the ability of the
state government to successfully meet the enormous financial
requirements.
The thinking here is that, Sokoto State could not succeed
in a venture that the more financially buoyant states of Lagos
and Rivers had failed to accomplish in the past. Therefore,
the decision of Governor Magatakarda Wamakko’s administration
would either have been ill-advised or, was simply a political
declaration which the architects knew very well to be unattainable
in concrete terms.
But, the issues involved in the planned Sokoto State Independent
Power Project, are way off the thinking of the genuine pessimists
or, avowed antagonists. First of all, because the one who
wears the shoes knows best where it pinches, the present administration
in Sokoto must have decided on the project in a bold step
to redress the lingering crisis of power supply to the state.
With an average allocation of eight megawatts of the nationally
generated electricity in the past 15 years, Sokoto State has
for this long, been suffering the retarding effects of low
energy supply, in all its ramifications.
The small-scale entrepreneurs, the millers, tailors, commercial
computer operators, furniture makers and the likes, would
find it difficult to break even, or, even to remain in business
due to the high cost of alternative sources of energy.
Worst off would be the high energy consuming ventures, the
industries, whose requirements are such that, the only rational
option to insufficient power supply is to close shop. The
abysmally low level of energy supply to Sokoto State in the
last one decade and a half could be rightly figured out as
the most empirical explanation for the collapse of the once
thriving industries such as, the Ceramic Company, the Sokoto
Match Industry, and the Sokoto Flour Mills among others. Similarly,
the management of the only surviving industry, the Sokoto
Cement Company, have always blamed its below capacity production
as well as the high cost of the firm’s products, on
the exorbitant price paid on running the giant out fit mostly
on diesel – driven generating plants. Of course, there
is no gainsaying the fact that, no new energy-related investments
could have been expected all these years. Talk of lack of
basic infrastructure and the vicious circle of poverty.
It is therefore, illogic to say that Sokoto State should not
emphasize the imperative of a sufficient and efficient power
supply, in view of its low industrial base and the scarcity
of qualified technical manpower to man its own electricity
project.
Like the puzzle of which comes first; the egg or the chicken?
The answer which simply is, each of the two begets the other.
In this regard, the existence of an efficient power supply
in Sokoto State, will lead to the emergence of industries,
relevant-human resource development with attendant backlash
effects or the other innumerable social and economic facets.
In the same vein, the failed precedents offered by the experiences
of the federal and some state governments cannot stand as
reasons why the Sokoto State government’s efforts would
not succeed. In retrospect, it can be said that the Lagos
IPP failed largely as a result of the many insurmountable
impediments put on the path of Bola Tinibu by then President
Olusegun Obasanjo, strictly on insensible partisan differences
and maniacal powerplay. In which case, Governor Wamakko should
have no problems with President Umaru Musa Yar’adua,
who for one, is the very opposite of his predecessor in temperament
and one, with whom he shares the same political platform.
Further, as was later to be revealed at various probe panels,
the initiators of the other federal and state governments’
independent power projects ought to have succeeded, but for
the fact that the projects were deliberately designed and
implemented as drain pipes for breath-taking sums of public
fund. For somebody who has every reason to want to stand out
and one whose every policy, actions and programs have so far
portrayed a single-minded commitment to transforming his state,
Governor Wamakko does not come across as somebody that is
unmindful of the enormous challenges or the lessons to be
learnt from past efforts or failed precedents. That much is
evident in the steps he has since taken in the execution of
the project.
Apparently, the government had consulted and obtained the
blessing of strategic political stakeholders, without whose
good-will could very well translate into sabotage such as
was the case with Bola Tinubu’s experience in Lagos.
The not-too-ambitious target of 35 megawatts, makes the project,
feasible or attainable within the resources of the state.
The cost estimate of N3.8 billion, as well as, the reasonable
estimated completion period of fifteen months, which were
results of advice from technical experts drawn from within
and outside the country, all sum-up to show that necessary
ground works had been done.
So it seems that in line with his now well-known style of
administration, Wamakko’s decision to embark on an independent
power project for Sokoto State, was well though-out, articulated
and pragmatic. Like with his feats recorded in other sectors,
the man looks set to make a success story of what had been
deemed an impossible task.
However, while there are solid grounds for optimism, we must
not all the same gloss over the salient, but critical weak
spots on the path towards the realization of this very phenomenon
project. It is certainly not going to be as easy as enthroning
a unique welfare scheme; the fundamental reforms in the education
sector; massive urban and rural road projects, or, breaking
the jinx in water supply to Sokoto metropolis, among other
feats of the Wamakko’s young administration.
The IPP demands for much greater dexterity in its supervision
at every stage of its execution, because not every one involved
would be as excited to see it come alive. Perhaps, the IPP
in Sokoto is so far, the greatest challenge on the famed administrative
acumen of Governor Wamakko. It is also, undoubtedly, going
to be his most enduring legacy many years and surely, many
generations from his time. May the Almighty Allah provide
him all the needed wisdom and strength to pull through this
one magic that promises to be the bedrock of the social and
economic transformation of Sokoto State, the Northwest and
indeed, the entire country.
¶ Ibrahim Adeleke
Yakubu Gowon Crescent,
Asokoro Abuja
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