Politically speaking, the subject-matter of electricity is highly technical and there have been and are still ongoing discussions on the issue of electricity worldwide because the availability and access to electricity is crucial to economic growth and development as energy is the catalysts that drives every economy.
A nation that wants to attain rapid industrialization must have energy sufficiency but the reality facing us today is that energy is becoming more expensive and scarcer, especially in third world economies, which has increased unemployment and is adversely affecting the quality of life of the people.
However, discussions surrounding this subject-matter have largely centered on the twin variables of technical and commercial/economic issues. This is unexpected because the sector is technical in nature and revenue matter is crucial to the success and performance of the capital-intensive sector. There is the important need to collect money for electricity used for the purpose of taking care of recurrent expenditure and investing in the sector for its improvement.
While acknowledging the efforts of various administrations since independence at improving the sector and making electricity available and affordable to Nigerians, the political aspect must not be ignored because without the political will to take favorable steps with regards to the issues of electricity, there can never be a way out of the current state of low performance in the sector.
Therefore, this blog is created to adopt the use of tools of political analysis in discussing issues of electricity and it intends to focus on Nigeria because as the most populous black nation on earth, Nigeria needs to be self-sufficient in electricity production, transmission and distribution in order to drive her industrial process and make life better for the people.
The Nigerian electricity grid system is presently operating as a centralized grid system with a single control center that coordinate every activities in the grid, even though administratively, the generation and distribution arms of the value chain have been privatized while the transmission arm remains under the government. The sole purpose of unbundling the sector is to introduce greater efficiency but most of the challenges that heralded this policy change still exist, hence it is necessary to bring these issues to focus in a bid to achieve better performance in the sector.
You are welcome to an exciting time on this modest blog!
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