The recent sack of the Managing Director and Executive Vice Chairman of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Bello Suleiman, and two executive directors by the Federal Government citing the urgent need to tackle the problems of the power sector, has confirmed the protracted crisis in the sector.

Explaining and justifying the action of the Federal Government, the Minister of Power, Dr. Lanre Babalola, said that the pace of the management of the PHCN was inconsistent with the serious problems in the power sector. He explained further that the actions or inactions of the PHCN management had robbed the nation of the set goals of the power sector despite the government's huge financial vote to improve power supply in the country. But the sacked chief executive on his part argued that his sack was the result of his principled opposition to the minister's attempt to direct the affairs of the PHCN and undermine existing regulations and procedures.

Whatever the differences between the former PHCN boss and the minister, the truth is that the power sector is in turmoil and Nigerians are not interested in such altercations and superfluity of words. We recall that only recently was the Chairman of National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Ransome Owan, along with six of his commissioners, removed over an alleged N1.5bn fraud. Coming against the backdrop of the report of the House of Representatives Committee on the Probe of the Power Sector which indicted former President Olusegun Obasanjo and three of his ministers, among others, over the alleged mismanagement of over $13 billion sunk into the power sector, any radical step by the FG to sanitize the sector is long overdue. Undoubtedly, electric power has increasingly assumed an indispensable position in today's world. No wonder then that of all Nigerian government parastatals and agencies, none, perhaps, has been as vilified, consequent upon crass inefficiency and corruption, as the former NEPA now Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PCHN).

Given the role of power in domestic and industrial life, it is not surprising that the PHCN suffers such a rating. Decree 24 of June 1972 which bestows NEPA (now PHCN) with autonomous status also imposes on it the primary responsibility to generate, transmit, distribute and sell electricity, and it is expected of it, to inter alia maintain an efficient and coordinated system of electricity supply to all parts of Nigeria. However, over the years, Nigerians have enjoyed some other "services" from the PHCN except electricity, to the extent that most consumers have sarcastically accused the agency of inflicting them with bills for supplying darkness.

Domestic and industrial consumers of electricity in Nigeria who constitute 45 per cent of the national power consumption volume are far from being satisfied. This is despite the claim that, with six thermal and three hydro-power stations, the PHCN's installed capacity of 6,187 megawatts (MW), serves a market that consumes just 2,187 megawatts or two gigawatts of the generated 3,283 megawatts of electricity. Nearly as much as 50 per cent of installed capacity is redundant or wasted. The reported increase of the power generation capacity to about 3,700 megawatts towards the end of 2002, and the installation and commissioning of new stations by the immediate past administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo notwithstanding, the organization has recorded a lamentable shortfall in generation level in recent times. Although, according to sources, generation level now hovers between 2,000 and 2,500 megawatts, the PHCN is still unable to transmit this amount of power across the country.

It is indeed sad to note that in spite of having the power issue as the first item on President Umaru Yar'Adua's Seven-Point Agenda, and two years down the road, Nigeria, through the PHCN, provides only a paltry 150 kilowatts of electricity per person on the average, as against 10,319 KW per person in developed countries. In many African countries which are materially poorer than Nigeria, their citizens enjoy higher and steadier power supply. In Zimbabwe, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, for instance, consumers are provided 542kw, 450kw and 600kw per person, respectively. In fact, PHCN's performance has made electricity a luxury rather than a necessity when considered against the almost permanent disruption of power distribution in the country. Consequently, many domestic, commercial and industrial set-ups have been compelled to own generating sets, the pollution of the environment notwithstanding.

For those unable to buy generating sets, the persistent outage has left in its wake tales of woe arising from a seemingly unending regime of darkness. Besides, power fluctuations have wrecked many household and industrial appliances while low current is unable to activate many factory accoutrements into efficient functioning. These factories are now permanently hooked on to private generating sets, thereby passing the incidence of huge production costs to the final consumers. Chronic power shortage puts a damper on the image of a nation such as ours which aspires to join the league of leading economies in the world by 2020. Electricity is the turning wheel of the drive towards industrial development. But the sheer inertia of the power system has stymied many foreign industrialists from investing in the country. Therefore, we join the school of thought that calls for the sincere unbundling of the PHCN, to bring to an end the monopoly still enjoyed by the agency in power generation, distribution and marketing.