Asopuru Okemgbo
You cannot pull down your house and stay in the rains because you hope to build a better house. That’s what Senator Bima Muhammad Enagi’s (Niger South Senatorial District) bill on “the Generating Sets (Prohibition/Ban) Bill, 2020” seeks to do. The gen-sets ban is like attempts to cure the fever rather than cure the malaria that causes fever. In tackling national issues, the national assembly, especially the Senate, must avoid sentimentality, reactionary tendencies, and embrace well thought out solutions to the many issues affecting ordinary Nigerians. The irony of the generating sets (gen-sets) ban legislation is that the Senate building has generators to the rescue when the grid power fails. Nothing surprising that the National Assembly buildings fall under the exclusions (see below). One wonders if these exclusions that actually produce and concentrate the environmental pollutants that the bill seeks to curb don’t defeat the purposes of the bill.
There’s no doubt that gen-sets as defined in the bill are sources of environmental pollutions. The noise and environmental pollution of gen-sets need to be reduced. I personally do identify with the problems. Our neighbor in Lagos runs a gen-set nonstop once there’s no electricity. His gen-set, though on his side of the flat is near the window where I sleep. The anticipation of the noise pollution from the gen-set makes one dread the night when there’s no electricity from the national grid. The air pollutions from gen-sets are beyond wits. But banning the importation of gen-sets and their use don’t solve air pollution problem in Nigeria. All over the world, even amongst the so-called developed world, there are still gen-sets available for purchase. A simple Google or Amazon search will convince you that this is true. There are instances that gen-sets are the only option, although portable solar energy system is becoming popular. There are many other more serious sources of air pollutions. Has any member of the Senate been to Port-Harcourt lately? Think smog of air pollutants dot the entire zone as a continuum. Same is true in other cities. That’s the kind of environmental pollutions that the Senate should tackle.
The better way to deal with the problem of gen-sets in Nigeria is to provide alternatives – renewable energy sources. The Senate should busy itself with legislations on incentives for renewable energy bill to make it attractive and affordable for individuals and businesses. Provide incentives for solar power, for example. My personal experience on the use of solar energy in Nigeria is that those who installed solar in their homes and offices naturally abandoned the use of gen-sets. When the Senate crashes the gen-sets market by providing the alternative, there won’t need to ban gen-sets importation.
Nigerian government supported by the National Assembly in recent times has criminalized commodities. They incriminated imported rice just before Christmas – an undue punishment for law abiding citizens. The uncultured Customs officers stationed themselves not at the borders but in the highways leading to villages and inside the markets that ordinary people shopped. The outcomes were that those who had the foreign rice in the country way before the ban criminalized rice became victims. They were harassed and extorted for the crimes they didn’t commit. This same scenario will play out if the Senate is successful in criminalizing gen-sets.
According to the Pulse.ng news report of March 12, 2020, the highlights of the bill include, “3. Ban on Use. All persons are hereby directed to stop the use of electricity generating sets which run on diesel/petroI/kerosene of all capacities with immediate effect in the country.” This provision is draconian. Although the bill has exclusion list of essential users, according to Pulse.ng, “The ban/prohibition of generating sets shall not include generating sets used for essential services which include: (i) Medical purposes (hospitals and nursing homes and healthcare facilities), (ii) Airports, (iii) Railway stations/services, (iv) Elevators (lifts) (v) Escalators, (vi) Research Institutions, and (-vii) Such facilities that require 24 hours electric power supply” This bill criminalizes all Nigerians that use gen-sets. These include all students and academics that rely on gen-sets to run their computers and have ordinary electric lights to do their work at home and on campus. It criminalizes all businesses that run gen-sets. The list goes on and on.
Focusing primarily on the alternative energy, the Senate must come along to where other nations are putting the emphasis. East African countries have made great strides in renewable energy. Nigeria has many ways to access renewable energies – the earth, the sun, the wind, and the water. Geothermal sources are available but are not as easy as sun-wind-water renewables. Solar energy is the easiest of all. Wind turbines may be harder than mini-hydro stations across rivers and streams. For the limited space for this article and ease of its operation let’s first focus on solar energy. The Senate can give incentives for communities to generate their own electricity using Community Solar Mini/Micro-grids in the towns and villages. This can also be used in various institutions that have depended on gen-sets. When i explored installation of a minigrid for one of the Nigerian universities, it was to cost a paltry couple million dollars (much less than what they spend on gen-sets annually) to get the institution energy independent. If the Senate has a cost sharing incentive or cost refundable initiative, the resources that the university uses on gen-sets can be applied to research and other initiatives. The beauty of solar mini/microgrids is that the national grid will be less burdened and can power the industries that need them the most.
It’s sad and shameful sometimes to see how Nigeria abandons its endowment of resources and be pursuing shadows. Another resource is ubiquitous natural gas. In the 26th Public Lecture I delivered at the Federal University of Technology (FUTO), Owerri, in 2011 (www.aastc.com/), I laid it bare that Nigeria has enough natural gas to power all the entire West Africa with electricity. Why is the Senate not paying attention to what will cripple the use of gen-sets? The use of natural gas in power plants in the USA brought to a minimum the use of polluting coal in their operations. Nigeria can do the same or even better. The Senate should legislate to use natural gas in power plants and build new power plants that run on natural gas. Nigeria has many engineers of all brands to make this happen in a cost effective and timely manner. Generating electricity is not that too complicated. Use the natural gas to boil water and produce steam which is used to turns turbines. The turbines generate electricity which is then sold to consumers and the money is recycled. The Senate should give us laws that produce employment to our teeming young graduates and technicians. In addition, nothing stops the Senate to look into opportunities of using natural gas to power small electricity generating stations for the constituencies they represent.
Where will the funding of the renewable mandates come from? It’s time charity begins at home. The Senate and the Executive should lead the way in cutting their excesses in salary packages including the encumbering allowances. Their funding of renewable energies will be a great selfless contribution to solving the energy crises that Nigeria seems to be used to.
Dr. Okemgbo writes from Washington, USA via [email protected]