A framework of appropriate pricing and incentives has been identified as a critical factor to achieving efficient power supply in the country. MANAGING Director/ CEO, Sahara Power, Mr. Kola Adesina, stated this while speaking at the launching of a book titled: The Development of The Nigerian Electric Power System (1973-1990) in Lagos.
The book was authored by Engr. FoluSeke Somolu and Engr. Lawrence Amu.
“The electricity sector is fundamentally flooded and it needs to be dealt with squarely.The price has to be right for any investor to make it in the sector and this can only be profitable if the customers are satisfied with the supply. “Consumer satisfaction could only be possible if only the product is really available and the price is right for them to purchase. As such there is need for us to go back and get it right” he said.Adesina, who is also the chairman of Ikeja Electric stated that if the price of a product is not right, there is no way the investor can make profit. He noted that they took a bold decision to invest in the power sector because they believed that the future of the country was in the hands of Nigerians. According to him, “the reality of the present situation is that the President-elect is coming with a huge challenge before him.
He argued that the country is floated with idealism rather than people who intend to effect change. “We are talking sense in Nigeria but not really acting sense” he noted. Adesina added that without proper incentives and right pricing of the power sector, its journey to becoming a robust sector would only be a mirage.
“The reason why the price has not been right is because people see electricity as a political and social product. They don’t view it as an economic product yet. The moment you begin to see it as an economic product, then the prices would be done correctly. “The simple thing to do in the sector is to draw up an economic model, whereby the critical assumptions and consequent part of any pricing is factored in to say; how much is gas today and gas to other users of gas.
If gas to other users would attract higher pricing, I would rather sell to other users of gas and not to the power sector. “If those that are desirous of change in the electricity sector can pay the price, they would get the change they desire” he added. He, however, charged the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari, to pursue the quest of making the power sector a front burner of the country.
Also speaking, former Minister of Mines and Power, Chief Philip Asiodu, lauded the constructive initiative of the authors who according to him has revealed the desire to liberate the country of its bad memory of the power sector.
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