Engr. Abiodun is a member of professional bodies, including Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE 2027). He has served the country in various capacities. In an interview with NewsThumb Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Sotayo Olayinka, a few days ago at his office in Abuja, he discussed several issues related to the power sector in Nigeria. Excerpt…
Can we meet you, Sir?
My name is James Abiodun Olotu, retired technocrat. My last job was at Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. I am a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and other professional bodies, and I hold a PhD from Powell University in America. Our assignment at NDPHC was to build 20 power plants of 250 megawatts each and to build transmission lines and substations across the length and breadth of Nigeria. We were also to undertake numerous projects nationwide, including developing gas infrastructure to connect NGC to other power plants.
I was MD from 2006. When I left in 2016, we had delivered six out of the power plants, with three and a half left at about 70 percent completion and 2700 lines as of when I left. In Lagos, 66 projects were completed, including the Alagbon power project. The biggest transmission substation as of today is the one at Oke Aro in Lagos, with 1.5 megawatts transmission capacity on a 33 kV powerline.
It is the biggest in Nigeria and is located in Lagos State. The Lagos State Governor at the time, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, was instrumental in securing the land space used, which continues to serve the people of Lagos State to date. The projects were all over the nation. In 2016, former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo misunderstood the power sector programs and removed us without going through the law of CAMA, as it is a private sector entity where rules of disengagement are very clear.
Since I left, the 2600 megawatts we developed have since collapsed to around 300 megawatts. The balance of the projects we left, which would have been completed in 2018, remains unfinished to date. The people of Nigeria are encouraged that when dealing with the welfare of the people, we need those who are competent in their professional areas with the capacity to do the job, not based on tribal or emotional sentiments. The company, as a private business, is now run like a civil service job. All the beautiful virtues of running a private company have disappeared, which is why things that should grow in Nigeria are not.
Since you have left office and many are advocating for professionals like you to come back, is there any move or advice you have given to this country?
All of us voted for APC not just for the party alone but based on integrity and feedback on competency. We heard of Mr. President’s resilience when he was governor of Lagos State. We saw him tower above other Presidential candidates and wanted to join him in building this nation. Nigeria is blessed with natural resources, human capacity, and land, but the only thing we lack is good leadership to drive the economy to prosperity. If we now have a leader who can drive the economy away from the precipice, who can turn things around and bring us back to growth, the process might be tough because it is easier to destroy than to build. It is painful to build. My appeal is for knowledgeable people in their fields to join Mr. President in building this nation. Those who are good in finance, agriculture, petroleum, etc., should be brought together to join forces with Mr. President. I know that with those professionals, Nigeria can move forward.
Now that there has been little development since you left, would you come back if you were called to fix the national grid and transmission challenges in the power sector?
I am ready to come back to work with Mr. President to achieve his goals of renewed hope and ensure power supply is improved. The answer to why there has been no progress since we left is that certain things, like human capacity to drive the mission some other persons had done, must be needed before any impact can be made. When people are employed based on sentiment and not on merit, you would not achieve anything for the country. What Nigeria needs is the best hands regardless of region; be it male or female, it doesn’t matter. When you find people without knowledge spending three years on a project, technocrats would just spend two months and get it done. That’s the difference, and that’s what we want Mr. President to bring back to governance.
Now, these are the brief problems in the power sector. There are three problems: one is management, and the second is the problem of capacity. When you have a bucket of water and you pour a little bowl of garri that would not be enough for plenty of people into it, the capacity available in the country now is old. Twenty or thirty-year-old equipment cannot deliver optimally compared to new modern ones. That’s why we keep hovering around 4000 megawatts. Let me give you a quick example: at Ayede station in Ibadan, we upgraded the substation, which belongs to TCN, by adding one transformer. Three months later, the old one got burnt. Imagine if there was no alternative. About four years after we added these transformers, the old ones there caught fire again. We had to make use of the new ones so that people did not know there were any power issues at all.
Most often, you hear we have 4000 megawatts. It’s not as if there is no additional power available, but due to aged capacity, it cannot be utilized. So we need to build capacity in all areas of the value chain, like gas turbines, transmission, generation, and distribution. Talking about hydropower, you must have water, which is the fuel for the plants. Talking about waste, you must be able to generate power from it. I see no reason why Lagos cannot have at least one power plant operated on waste.
While we blame the Minister of Power, we should know he’s just managing the non-availability of capacity. That’s the fact, looking for how best to manage the old facilities in order to maximize profits from the systems. Having bands A, B, and C is not the best thing to do, but it’s the best he can do under the present circumstances. Egypt, in the space of five years, built about 10,000 megawatts, but in Nigeria, we keep struggling with probing this or that. With such, we can’t build the capacities needed.
It has been a heartfelt desire of Mr. President, while he was governor of Lagos State, to build a state power plant. Now that he’s in charge, would you support him and share your experience to help him succeed in doing that?
Sure, I will, but there is a caveat. Power is not something anyone can just jump into. It is an expensive project. The equipment and technologies are not built in Nigeria; their purchases are domiciled in dollars. The cost of one megawatt is about 1.2 million US dollars, not including distribution. Based on financial strength, not many states can achieve this, maybe five at most, like Lagos, Rivers, Delta, and a few others. What happens to the other states?
Population too might prevent some states from achieving this, and Mr. President needs people from both densely and sparsely populated areas to vote for him during electioneering. Only about five states can generate power independently, and it would cause controversies if states with grid power release it to others while they themselves cannot generate any. The federal government must therefore not abdicate its responsibilities to other states. One way to go about it is to encourage states that can afford it to proceed while compensating those who host the grid sites. The truth is, he’s not just the APC leader but the leader of the whole country and must deliver on his campaign promises. We are ready to support him to succeed.
Private organizations can also support him in achieving many things. For example, NDPHC, which is owned by the three tiers of government, can help Mr. President achieve success. The experience, knowledge base, and data bank the company had then might not still be there now. States that want to build power stations should consult them for expertise. That is one way the government can support states in building power stations. Government consultants in charge would be available to guide the states on channeling resources where needed. I met Governor Fashola of Lagos then to advise on power transmission projects. Anyone in charge now can guide states ready to build power to do the same. States like Lagos can be guided based on their waste generation levels to convert it to power and clean up the state from waste pollution.
Governor Sanwo-Olu has done this recently. States with the capacity can follow suit. It is an expensive project. A state I won’t mention went ahead with a power project without due consultations and could not get it right due to the wrong materials used. Making laws and regulations to do it can also help.
As you are versed in building the biggest transmission substation in Oke Aro, Lagos, what’s your advice on solar energy?
There are many technological sources to generate power now. What is needed is to look at some areas with an abundance of water; hydropower is good for places like that. Areas with large land space and abundant sunshine can use it for solar energy. States like Jigawa, Kano, and Nasarawa have plenty of sunshine. Individuals too can utilize solar power. In my office, we have been on solar since you came in. Solar is cheaper to manage, though it may be costly initially but becomes cheaper to maintain over time. States should consider natural resources available for their choice of power projects.
Lagos, which has waste, should not compete with Kano, which has a large land mass for solar energy. States need to utilize available resources. Charcoal too is good as an alternative power source but has environmental pollution issues. Enugu coal burns well but releases unfriendly emissions. The world is now moving away from such sources. There is even a technology that converts coal ashes to materials for cement production.
Right technology is required to undertake power projects as it usually runs into several millions of dollars. Through that, we build the entire nation and make the economy vibrant for growth.
Let me show you the difference between thermal and solar energy. Thermal can withstand the power capacity of industrial machineries when switched on and off based on its thermal capacity, but solar cannot withstand such energy consumption. Areas with high power consumption like industries can be scheduled for thermal energy, while areas with low power consumption can be powered by solar energy.
What’s your take on the challenges facing the Mambilla power project and your wishes for the second year of Mr. President in office?
Mambilla has been on the drawing board since I was in school over 40 years ago. It’s one of the biggest hydro power projects we could have built, but greed and selfishness have prevented our capacity to build Mambilla. Around 2014, Mambilla was transferred to NDPHC, my company, because they discovered it could only be built by a private organization and not the public sector. As you know, bureaucracy in the public sector is cut off in the private sector. It was brought to us, but the politics of successive governments came in and took it back to the Ministry of Power.
There are two problems with Mambilla. One is that someone alleged the Mambilla project was awarded to him, and it has since been under litigation. My problem is that people should be thinking business. The public sector doesn’t think business, but the private sector does. The point is, the nation should consider that about 2000 megawatts would be coming from a power station and should not be toyed with. That is power generation for millions of homes, and billions of Naira would be earned by the success of such projects. Imagine the number of people that would empower.
The location of Mambilla is in Taraba, and this can be transmitted anywhere in the country. Under the litigation, a fine of billions of Naira was to be paid, and others said it should not be paid. For instance, if such a fine had been paid six years ago, Mambilla would have been completed by now, and several billions of Naira would have been earned by charging current billing costs, which would also positively impact the country.
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