 The federal government on Monday announced that the new price of natural gas for power generation companies is now $2.42 per metric million British thermal unit. The price is higher than the previous rate of $2.18 per MMBTU. In Nigeria, Mistream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA pepped the cost of commercial gas at $2.92 per MMBTU, up from the previous cost of $2.05 per MMBTU. The announcement was signed by the Chief Executive and NMDPRA for Ruka Med. Recall that the multi-year tariff order released by NEC in January 2024 for the electricity distribution companies was calculated based on the previous price of natural gas. Gas producers, including international and domestic oil and gas companies, are repeatedly called for the upward view in the price of the product, stressing that this would be an incentive to ramp up production. In the announcement of Monday, Ahmed said the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, assented to by the President of August 16, 2021 and gazetted in August 2021 provided a clear regulatory framework for the determination of a market-based pricing regime for the domestic gas market. The NMDPRA boss further stated that the latest action was taken in line with Section 164, the third and fourth schedule of the PIA 2021, which mandated the regulator to determine the domestic-based price and the marketable wholesale price of natural gas supplied to the strategic sectors. He said, quote, the DBP and the marketable gas delivery point under sector 1671 and other provisions of the PIA shall be determined based on regulations which incorporate among such other matters the following principles. The price must be of a level to bring forward sufficient natural gas supplies for the domestic market on a voluntary basis for the upstream producers. The voluntary basis by the upstream producers be the price shall not be higher than the average of similar natural gas prices in major emerging countries that are significant producers of natural gas. See lowest cost of gas supply on three-tier cost of supply framework. The market-related prices tied to international benchmark, unquote, the NMDPRA therefore emphasized that it had set the, quote, 2021 domestic-based price at $2.42 per MMBTU and wholesale prices for natural gas in strategic sectors following consultations with stakeholders and in compliance with the PIA and gas pricing regulations, unquote. Joining us is the Public Affairs Analyst Wisdom Chap Jumbo and a power systems engineer who is also a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Power Engineers, Dr. Iduu Uyebando. Gentlemen, welcome to PlusPolitics. Okay, let's start from the studio. How would you want to kick-start this conversation from the recent development relative to the review of the MMBTU pricing of gas to the reflections that the parties to this distribution companies are now incorporating into their tariff tariff systems across a defined band of of their customers that would want to kick-start this. I think since you are now spent by the regulatory, I think it has hit everyone with different mixed feelings. Some people have been in shock, if I would say, about the increase, but you must realize that maybe some of us saw this coming. Of course, gas, our power takes more than 75% of it needs gas to work. So we see this coming at the end of the day. But I think the major problem which Nigerians have is especially those who are willing to pay, who are in the band A. Like the regulatory said, this new tariff will reflect only on customers within the band A. So what does that mean? Band A means that if you are in the band A, you receive at least minimum of 20 hours of power in a day. I'm not sure that many people will say, oh, how do I even come into this because I don't even see the 20 hours of power a day. But we saw this coming and the only issue or concern we have here is if we pay this new tariff, are we really going to see the power? That is the main concern. Dr. Yebanjo, as controversial as the issue of tariff hike may be, the necessary question is, is this the silver bullet that will bring about consistent power supply by the Nigerian electricity architecture in the fact that the power generation entities are different from the transmission entity. The transmission entity is different from the distribution entities. So is this the silver bullet to kill the leviathan of darkness in Nigeria? Thank you very much. Thank you very much for that question. To answer that question. No. So of course increasing tariffs is a short-term situation. Offering when we get to a station whereby the tariffs will now go down. But the main thing that can help Nigerians now in terms of uninterrupted power supply or increasing on terms of power supply to businesses, homes, offices, to industries, residential consumers, commercial and industrial consumers will be the full implementation of the Electricity Act 2023 as amended, which was signed into last year. And the decentralization of the power system such that we have states having their electricity markets, regional markets will exist and then the national market will take care of those states we are unable to start their markets. This will bring renewable energy systems. It will bring private sector investment and also investment from the federal government. All of these will work together to give us the silver bullet as we put it that will help us to have a consistent improvement in power supply. Having said that, the discussion you have raised in your introduction, very, very low. You talked about increases in price of one of the very important commodity gas for the power sector. So as a result, the Nigerian literature regulatory commission has had two increased studies. But for band A, this has pros and cons as you have mentioned it. So we have to also deliberate on the cons, the disadvantages and what needs to be done to mitigate debt. Thank you. Thank you very much. I am sitting here as a Nigerian who has seen over the decades I have lived in this country a continual deterioration of the quality of power supply. And like the good doctor just stated now, we may just be dealing with eczema talking around this price tariff hike when we may seem to be leaving the skin cancer yet to be attended to because it is obvious that this tariff hike will not be the final solution. The doctor made some suggestions consistent with what the Electricity Act 2023 announced. But I am sitting here now that I don't see the sensitization. Would they still indeed even the doctor spoke around state governments galvanizing their local markets in their state for power generation transmission and distribution, which has been decentralized. But I am one who believes that with proper sensitization and this is the question for you with proper sensitization, you and I can form cooperatives. We can have private concerns. We can have people who live in estates, in the estate that I am going to be sleeping in today. Almost 90% of us function on solar, minimum of 5kg solar. And it is even ironic that we may be wasting power because sometimes we generate more than we need but because we function in silos. Power that could be accumulated and indeed for us to get some recompense as it is done in some other advanced power markets where you generate independent power, you pass on the national grid calculate what you have used, deduct it from what you have supplied and sometimes give you. So I am sitting here thinking, are we even going in the right direction because I don't see the sensitization from enlightened people like you from the media, from professionals like doctors, we are still talking the government. Government. I think that's a good observation really and I really must agree with you but however yes we are looking at the government because I think in this conversation the government needs to take a lead in this conversation of sensitization. Though there are many talks everywhere, many programs, many just like this raising the issue of power and the issues around it. Now that's why the electricity act of 2023 solves this problem a lot given the power to states and like doctor said when we begin to decentralize and begin to implement this act we start solving this problem because states will begin to drive a lot of these conversations, that's what the act is empowering them to do drive this conversation, drive the policies so far so good now but for how many states now, just a few states have been able to create their own markets and create their own policies. No, they have only domesticated the law. Yes. That's not creating market. That's one way they've created the policies to create the market. Maybe doctor will speak more on that but what I want to say is this is where the state government will also take lead and this is where also the regulator which is NEC will also take the, you know, through the government and go take the lead on it. We need to keep talking. The issue of power affects everybody. The issue of power, it's a problem to everybody. It's been more than 60 years. We have been struggling to fix the issue of power. So we keep these conversations going but yes we think we're looking not to government but government must take the lead on this. We must see them also trying to, you know, take that sensation down to the home. We have the Nigerian orientation agency that is also there. What are they doing? What are the conversations they are having, you know, as regards this is my own thinking. But yes, we need to keep pushing. We are making a good progress so far. That may sound very controversial to some of the people watching you at home. You know, Mr. Jumbo. Doc. Doc. Dr. Oyebanjo. Yes, I'm with you. To the best of you. I'm enjoying you. You are making very good points. I'm really enjoying both of you. To the best of my understanding. Thank you very much. To the best of my understanding. There is another segment of this show that I have rested for a while now. To the best of my understanding we are building on an infrastructure that was conceptualised in 18, conceptualised and delivered in 1863. A central grid. And I'm sitting here now knowing that people like yourself do not only practice in Nigeria, you literally function across the world. We were once positing that it was the statute that was choking, that was essentially the primary problem of the system. Now we have a statute that allows for organic federalism in power generation transmission and distribution. Doctor, using your working knowledge of the industry, if you were talking to the honourable minister today, say he is sitting in front of you, what would be your suggestions? Methodically. Okay, thank you very much. The honourable minister of power is already doing a lot of advocacy and making sure that the import of the electricity act fit us down through the system. Immediately he resumed office, he has been able to organise a 3D retreat where he brought together all stakeholders relevant in the power sector and to brainstorm on what needs to be done. So I am aware that he communicated with the issue shortly about that. He has also communicated with state governors, he has spoken with all the honourable commissioners for energy, power or related services in every state, trying to governise the momentum. You see, just as you have said, as well as the analysed jumbo, you are correct, there is need for the media as well as CSOs and various organisations, professional bodies. They should be at the vanguard of this message of electricity act. Like you took us back in history, the Nigerian power sector followed the development in the world when America started as well as Britain. However, once they started developing and making progress, we did not make significant progress. In fact, I will say that for a country of 200 million plus trying to use 3,500 MW is absurd. It is in the 1920s situation of the UK or the US which is not good because they ramped up from those small levels and then moved significantly to about 65,000 MW of demand today in the UK and generation capacity of upwards of 70,000. So for Nigeria today, where we need to be, we need to have about 40,000 MW of generation, 35,000 MW of transmission capacity, wheeling capacity and then 30,000 MW of demand based on the studies that I have done. Now, we are not there, we are even far from there. So the fastest way, the fastest way, the fastest way, I have repeated it till the time to make Nigeria get industrialized is through decentralization. I speak as a professional. So when I speak on power systems, having done it as my BSE, my MSC and PAG and having worked for over 25 years, having worked significant period of this inside a UK power system that worked when I am saying these things it is not a fast, it is not as a result of conjections. You have to decentralize this kind of network. It is not that it is too massive, it is a small network compared to other networks but because of the factors, Nigerian factors that have affected us over the last three years, the most logical thing for Nigeria and the most correct solution for Nigeria is this decentralization. What we are doing, for example as part of our advocacy in Aid Fund Power Consultants Limited we are approaching the state government, we are helping them, we are synthesizing them just as you have said to at least domesticate the law. We are working them through the steps required to not only domesticate the law, prepare the bill and pass the bill and then get the right people in the electricity commission for the state and then develop the market that will make consumers be happy. If a power system does not make consumers happy if a power system brings apprehension if a power system brings anger it is not a power system that is functional. Thank you very much. We need to move from my take now We have built a culture of recriminations in the power sector. Everybody finger pointing at the other person but given contemporary developments in the power industry worldwide the fact that China has helped to crush the price of say solar panels the fact that the alternative energy solutions out there beyond even solar many in the south west I have a friend who just returned from the UK and at the last count in the south west of Nigeria alone about 200 plus bodies of water that could be used to generate hydro power at the very local community level to some even as far as states original state original levels and I'm sitting here Power is one of the reasons why sometimes some doubt the fact that if we negrote species of the homo sapiens whether we are really human beings because we always have the issue of power in all the places that we habitate and the irony is that I never knew the manner there even once worked in the UK the irony is that I lived in the UK and I know that in a place in northern England one of the few places where they are generating more than 12 megawatts of solar energy the person that coordinated it was a Nigerian engineer we do it when we are in England and yet there is something about us I will tell you something in the last four years I have been within the solar space energy access space and all of that and I can tell you Nigerians are really brilliant I have seen quite a lot of technologies a lot of innovations especially from young people I spoke to a guy one time he had created some towels if you step on it you can generate power so if you put it in a shopping mall as in kinetic energy food falls if we have it in our shopping malls we are very busy when people walk around so the innovations are there and young people are driving this so I think one of the issues most times they have suffered is the right kind of funding to support them there is a section of that act that was dedicated to renewable energy where that act has given for example NEC the power to promote renewable energy sources as part of our power mix or energy mix in the country we need to leverage more on that so one big issue is funding you meet a young chap now who has created something very innovative but the issue is struggling with funding or maybe some companies are already supporting them so we need more support in that area to fix our power issue so what we need to do going forward now as we plan to solve this problem of power is to support what we have now with some renewable energy sources or some alternative sources like I said there are a lot of them and we need to constantly promote that we want to see from all angles the right kind of funding available for them to be able to fund some of this project to be amazed there is a lot if I begin to talk about them but again for the sources like solar we need to even make it more accessible to more people we need to make some communities you go there all you need is a mini grid to power them and I've been to a lot of those communities especially down south I went to a community called Mekie in River State and they've never had power all their life but there's a mini grid there which was installed some couple of years back and that is what the community is leveraging on and now with the new act we see that it is promoting and supporting some of these additional sources we need to give that that's why when the state government begin to drive this themselves some of these communities we want to see them use solar or all these other renewable energy sources to drive them let me let me compliment let me briefly collaborate sorry collaborate what you say I was once in a hotel in Abuja and is it and as it is my want I always like to do a stretch of my leg especially after I haven't been airborne so I decided to walk five kilometers and I was shocked that in Abuja we says on seven there was a body of water it was not a rainy day there was a body of gushing water and I was telling myself that you know what the hotel was burning diesel and look but you see in Nigeria there is one agency that is in charge of bodies of water with some people some bureaucrats who are still looking at the back of the fire there was last time in the 1960s you know yes I know and so what is doctor I think about time I came to you you know why I need to come to you at this juncture because I can imagine the degree of frustration somebody like you will be feeling sometimes having been exposed to best practices is not the most power generation and transmission developed markets in the world and yet when you are back in your in your natal and ancestral home we are where we are sometimes how do you cope is sometimes can lead somebody in the direction of seeing you know going on the psychologist you know the chair yeah thank you very much so one of the one of the most important things for power systems engineers like myself is that we have been trained to solve complex problems so whenever we see complex problems we know how to tackle them if we are giving the right environment our environment has to be one that is conducive for us to provide the services that's the way we are trained to look at problems and solve them having said that from what you two have said this evening it's clear that the federal government made the good decision the correct decision to decentralize the system because as you have said there are various sources of energy per state this will happen once you decentralize the state is in charge the people in the state investors will come in if the environment is made right by the state government investors are ready to partner with that kind of young person that needs them to spoke about a while ago we have various resources in the northern part of the country you have hydro, you have solar you have even gas maybe so you will use this energy electricity in the south east you see you saw what happened in february march also from february 2016 was launched in aba abia state in an integrated power plan project by geometry you saw the IPP at aba and this will serve a franchise area in aba and look at people are now moving to aba industries are now relocating to aba they are going there they have started from what we hear to enjoy an integrated power supply so many states will do the IPP once you decentralize properly once you make sure we decentralize these things will happen the solar you talk about you will sell your solar to the grid it's already written in the act if one of you in your state generate so much electricity we call you prosumer a prosumer is a person that is both producing electricity consuming it so you are a prosumer in your state if one of you aggregate this electricity you can even as individuals sell to the grid this will happen it will happen when you decentralize then when we go and support the government of the states one after the other to say look this is the implication of the act this is what you need to do and once the citizens continue to engage their their government this will happen IPPs this will spring up in Nigeria once we decentralize but currently what the federal government is doing is a light up Nigeria program so if you remember in October 2023 there was a light up Agbarra project by the renewed hope agenda of President Shinobu but this has been uncalled under the office of the vice president it was launched there and with NDPAC NDPAC as well as NRX1 and other private investors they are doing to be involved in providing electricity to industrial clusters in February also on the 20th of February this year the vice president went to in what we call the light up southeast project this one aims to also take the industrial clusters in the southeast and make them viable and make them to be able to have electricity that can make them have competitive manufacturing capacities so power is an enabler without power there will be no economic development look there is no country in the world that you see that has developed and we like to go on holidays there and make them a reference that didn't start by building a power system when we are doing power system 101 the lecture says the first thing a government does is to build a power system and that's talk with me the first thing you do if you have a piece of land and you want to form a government yet the first thing you should do is a power system I don't want to sound I don't want to sound as though I'm a cleric but even one of the great books tells us that the first thing that the creator did was let there be light and I wonder why we have decided to live this long in relative darkness I'll come back to you dog before we wrap up we are where we are now we are trading on ideas but I'm feeling sitting down here I'm feeling that it is incumbent more on people like myself people like yourself in the like I say the Charterati a stratum or class of society people like doctor who have seen it work in places where you know it's been demystified is now incumbent on us to find a synergy like this program is providing to enlighten an average Nigerian watching that there is nothing mysterious about having consistent light I agree and that's why I like to see in the last few days all over the media there has been constant conversation around these issues I ran a program for nearly four years trying to let people understand that this isn't working you can have this alternative and it is possible to work because there is so many misinformation out there some people say for example, solar is expensive and they have never got to price one before you understand so we need to that's why the media even if it's I'm going to where we sleep I have no anxiety about power because I know that the power even if it's expensive up front we need to constantly that's why the media plays a key role we need to constantly talk about these things we don't know even as we're having this program now we may have just misinformation to somebody and I noticed this over the last couple of years I have been doing this myself people call and you let them know you'll be shocked that there is just so many misinformation there and when you are able to inform them properly you understand that changes a lot for them having power 24 hours it's not a mystery it's a basic it's a basic thing that you have if you go to Ghana if they would take the light they are going to call you you are going to see notification if Ghana can do it why are we struggling with this so the media plays a key role in this and we shouldn't get tired we need to keep talking and talking and passing that information that's what I take on that doctor we need to be coasting home now and I would want to enjoy you to have a direct conversation with people at home and just let them know that from the micro from the nano to the micro to the medium level there may be a lot there may be just a lot that people can do from power from power or lighting up their rooms to lighting up their say home state to lighting up their say neighborhood if they function in a very collaborative community you want to be talking to those ones because professionals like you almost end up having to talk to governments you know ministers but at the end of the day the paradox of the parasitation in Nigeria since I've been born and I've been conscious is that people solve that problem more for themselves than from a central utility how would you want to wrap it up sir well thank you very much it has been a very important discussion and I've learned a lot from the contributions that you both have made as well as wisdom and we say that as enunciated before now let the citizens take interest in the matter of power system it's not easy, even in the UK citizens don't really have time to understand what is power what is some people don't even know where they are and what band they are and things like that because it's not easy so one thing that we must do is to decentralize I have said that a number of times when the electricity market in the states has set up meritocracy must be one of the most important things that will function without a system of meritocracy without celebrating meritocracy over metocrity you can never have a power system having said that collaboration is important the state government will create an enable environment for private investors private investors will work with the existing discourse by doing the franchising model by building in the integrated power plan project it can even be 10 megawatt solar it can even be 5 megawatt it can be as 20 megawatt we need all of these pockets of generation distributed generation without them we need them to be able to make power available first in the state any excess can be sent to the regional grid any excess can be sent to the national grid and that is how Nigeria can only develop Nigeria cannot develop with this centralized system of power system function so this time what we should be doing should include metering all customers making sure all customers are metered coordinating the implementation of the electricity act doing independent power plants doing this light up Nigerian project and joining the effort of Siemens project which FGM power core is actually pioneering by investing in the infrastructure of the Nigerian landscape there are small small things I remember a feeder in Akute in Lagos southwest Nigeria the Akute area has just little thing that you need to do to the feeder to make power available there are certain things that will be possible when we decentralize if we don't decentralize they will not happen the people in Akute will even go to bank if these minor tweaks or things are done so this also applies to several places in the country all we have to do are minor things that will get us there but knowledge is power knowledge is power knowledge is power is unfortunate that time is not our best friend on the program but having said that you having mentioned Akute I was actually telling I am championing a 200 unit estate with some of my friends I started a cooperative in England and I told them I am integrating power into it and they were initially surprised and I said you know what ironically look at Akute the first major body of water that allowed the white people to enter southwest Nigeria Ogun river from the Lagos Lagoon to Ogun and that water is still there now literally being polluted at Kara by Bakau Dong that is what we do now for even some of the assets with historic value to us and ironically look at the role of Kanji and River Niger even in the power configuration that we have and yet we have bodies of water littering our neighborhoods and we just live as though only NEPA only BACN only disco only JEMCO thank you very much sir we look forward to having you on some other time thank you for the enlightenment opportunity from you thank you sir thank you wisdom you need to wrap it up in a way that engages the people you are here for you are not here for me the viewers I would just take this one and this is the camera I guess I would just add to say I know the recent hiking tariff is tough but I want to say I think the Nigeria Legislative Regulatory Commission has shown some some way of support by providing required information I read just this evening I saw an FAQ that they have published for more information on everything we need to know about the tariff I want to urge everyone to go and reduce FAQs and involve them and also they just placed a final one of the discourse of 200 million for placing the tariff on all bands so I see some monitoring happening which will give us some confidence which is actually what we need equip yourself with more information about this also some numbers have been shared let's be able to engage them so you used to show me there also and make sure that if we are paying for this we are getting it if we are not getting it we want some sanctions on those discourse who may be in any way short changing us by not doing what they need to do the citizens need to engage more that's what I want to say because I know everywhere now there's so much concern on this increase in tariff but let's see how that goes but let's continue to engage next it's just a message I want to pass to everybody without wanting to sound patronizing if anybody was in doubt that your name happens to be wisdom thank you very much thank you so much Mola really appreciate you this is where we call it a wrap we may soon be doing the historical epilogue segment that we used to do on this program given historical perspective to some of the some of the topics that we engage with I am Bola Oba have a good evening