National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Energy Week
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Nebo denies admitting failure of power sector reform CHIDI UGWU ABUJA
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he Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has denied ever admitting that the ongoing power sector reform has failed.
Special Assistant, Media, to the Minister, Kande Daniel in a statement said Nebo was quoted by a national newspaper yesterday, June 11, as having admitted that the current power sector reform of the Federal Government has failed. According to Daniel, the said report emanated from the Hon. Minister’s speech at the General Electric, GE, Distribution Power Launch which held on Tuesday, in Lagos. The report according to statement stated: “Despite huge financial resources committed to the transformation of power sector, Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, has admitted failure of the reform.” Daniel described the report as quite unfortunate, stressing there is no way the minister could have made the statement credited to him or inferred same. Incidentally, there is also nowhere the said report of the UDEME AKPAN
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he decline in oil production of many nations, including Nigeria Decline in oil production in Nigeria, Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia and some other members of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC was responsible for many changes in the oil market last year. The drop, accounting for about 600,000 barrels daily production is one of the major causes of the changes in global hydrocarbon production matrix in 2013, according to the British Petroleum Statistical Review of World Energy June 2014. These production declines in 2013 were also responsible for average oil prices exceeding $100/ barrel for the third consecutive year, despite supply growth in the United States. Speaking at the launch of the Statistical Review, at the opening of the 21st World Petroleum Congress, WPC, which began on Monday at the Crocus Expo in Moscow, Russia, BP’s Group Chief Executive, Mr. Bob Dudley, noted that whereas production fell in some OPEC members, it however, increased in non-OPEC countries.
newspaper justified the claim it made concerning the Hon. Minister’s statement. the statement reads in part “For emphasis the paper quoted the Hon. Minister’s as having said: “The Federal Government is deeply worried that the current power situation is not capable of propelling industrialisation and grow the economy and it is therefore looking at other opportunities that will create power alternatives to communities. “To quickly reach the identified communities, institutions and industrial clusters, government is providing the necessary support top the GE on the distribution of power application options.” Incidentally, the statement above is made in English Language, Nigeria’s official language and the language in which the paper reports its news. A cursory look and critical examination of it did not indicate the meaning being adduced by the newspaper. Clearly, contrary to the claim, the Hon. Minister was talking about the unacceptable power situation in the country, which, incidentally the reform is meant to correct. The Lagos event is also part of the comprehensive
Transformer
efforts at redeeming the situation, which has dogged the nation’s power sector for decades” Daniel argued that to have admitted that the current reform is a failure is akin to throwing in the towel at one of the fundamental pillars on which the reform agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan stands. continuing Daniel stated “This will not only be disastrous but will ultimately spell doom for the country and its aspiration to becoming one of the top 20 economies in the world by the year 20-20. And the Hon. Minister, who is supposed to drive the process to be the culprit through
which such bad news is given to Nigerians, would have rather be most unfortunate. But that is far from the situation. The correct position of things, which is being celebrated not only in Nigeria, but the world over is that the reform is a huge success. The vortex of the reform agenda is the liberalisation and private sector take-over of the electricity sector. The effect of this major achievement may not have been fully felt at the moment, but that Nigerians now own the process as in other successful transformation efforts such as the telecoms sector is a huge success in itself.
Oil output declines in Nigeria, Libya, others fuel global changes Specifically, in its review of the global energy situation in 2013, the Annual Statistical Review captured the worst production decline from Libya, down by 520,000 barrels per day, bpd; Iran -190,000bpd; Saudi Arabia -110,000bpd; and Nigeria -100,000bpd. Dudley, who said in his review that energy markets reflect broader themes, also noted that “Energy production continued to be impacted by geopolitical.” For instance, in the case of Libya, one of Africa’s top producers, he said, “Oil production in Libya suffered the world’s largest decline in the face of renewed civil unrest.” But for production growth in the US, exceeding 1.1 million, the largest in the world during the review period, the oil market would have suffered higher oil prices. The US alone accounted for about 96 per cent of the minimal 0.6 percent or 560,000 bpd rise in oil production, supported by growth in Canada +150,000bpd; and Russia +150,000bpd helped offset the declines in some OPEC countries
as well as some non-OPEC countries like Syria -120,000bpd; United Kingdom and Norway -80,000bpd respectively; and Australia -70,000bpd. Despite the production mixd
Oil rig
bags observed in 2013, the Statistical review noted that overall, “Consumption and production increased for all fuels, reaching record levels for every fuel type except nuclear power.”
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NAPTIN partners Schneider on capacity building CHIDI UGWU ABUJA
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n a bid to ensure adequate development of technical skills in the power sector the National Power training institute of Nigeria, NAPTIN, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with Schneider electrics of France to build capacity for the power sector. This training is expected to be especially focused on training members of the Licensed Electricity Contractors Association of Nigeria, LECAN, and other electrical technicians with a view to achieving the local content drive in the industry. Speaking at the signing ceremony at NAPTIN’s headquarters in Abuja, the Director General of the institute, Engr. Reuben Okeke said, “For the first time, we are going to put pen to paper with an organisation that has come to back NAPTIN in developing human capacity.” Okeke expressed concerns on the trend of flooding substandard electricity equipment and cables in the market and are used for household structures. He noted that such factors and the use of quacks in wiring have caused several fire incidence and accident in the electricity industry. Okeke maintained that the overall motive of the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, is to ‘provide training for people in electricity, create more jobs and ensure household and industrial safety with regards to electricity consumption.’ The trainer also disclosed that the Ministry of Power had alerted the institute that about 4,000 linesmen and various electricity staff have to be trained to work for the new owners of the privatised power utilities across the country. In his address, the Country President of Schneider, Marcel Hochet noted that the agreement symbolises its training commitment with government and other stakeholders in the power sector. “The MOU will significantly raise skilled technical people for the power sector and also reduce unemployment rate in the country,” Hotchet said. The Permanent Secretary in the Power Ministry, Dr. Godknows Igali called on other corporate entities in Nigeria to emulate the feat and partner with government to facilitate training for power sector advancement. He noted that the initiative is also a local content development programme as it will help to train some of NAPTIN’s trainers in Schneider’s training school in Grenoble, France where about 30 Nigerian s are being trained already by the company. ‘They will in turn come back and train others in Nigeria’ he added.