As power supply in Nigeria continues to plummet, a quick win for the Federal government’s incremental power plan is ensuring that rapid action is taken to concession 15 abandoned dams around the country capable of delivering 350 megawatts (mw) of hydro power to power about 350,000 homes.
An examination of the public private partnership projects opportunities published by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) indicated that 15 hydro power projects capable of delivering about 350 mw of power has not progressed due to a slow-blinking procurement process.
Babatunde Fashola, minister of Power, Works, Housing and Urban Development at the February 9 defence of his ministry’s 2017 budget proposal urged the House or representatives Committee on works to amend the procurement process as it is slowing actions on projects.
“We must say it here that the procurement process in this country is too slow and it is having adverse effects on project execution,” Fashola said.
Development of hydroelectric power from existing 10 small & medium dams across the country to generate about 45mw of off-grid power for the dam environments including Owena, Ikere Gorge and Oyan dams, Bakalori, Doma and Omi-Kampe dam, Challawa, Tiga, Jibiya and Zobe dams at the cost of N29.3bn has been stuck in procurement phase since November 9, 2011.
Also while the construction of N6.6bn worth 30mw hydroelectric power from Gurara 1 multi-purpose dam in Kaduna State has been completed and the Commission has issued Compliance Certificate for FEC approval to be sought, the project has still not gotten off the ground.
The concession of the Gurara 2 Greenfield multi-purpose Dam in Niger State which includes 300mw of hydropower components of the dam is waiting for the MDA to engage the ministry to prepare.
Developments of Tede Dam for Hydro power and other purposes, concession of Oturkpo Dam for Hydro Power and other purposes, and development of Dasin Hausa Dam for Hydro power and other purposes are similarly awaiting procurement approvals.
A 2013 study by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) showed that that six hydro power sites including: Ikere Gorge Dam, Oyan Dam, Bakalori Dam, Tiga Dam, Challawa Dam, Doma Dam and Okinni Dam have hydro power potentials of about 50mw.
“Investments in those assets are wasting and if not resuscitated or refurbished could lead to a total waste of resources,” the report states.
It further stated, “Injecting new investments in these wasting assets is one way of harnessing additional power in the very short term thus, could be the ‘low hanging’ fruits in Nigeria’s bid to increase power generation, and distribution, particularly in rural communities.”
In a bid to utilise these wasting assets, the Federal Government in November 2016 said the Federal Executive Council has approved business case for the concession of some of the small hydro dams to achieve incremental power supply across the country.
A business case for concessioning and development of Ikere Gorge dam (Oyo), for 6mw, of electricity, Bakolori dam (Zamfara) for 3.2mw, and Jibiya dam (Katsina) for 4mw was approved.
Other are Zobe dam 0.2mw, AND Kpape Omi in Kogi for 2mw, and Doma dam (Nasarawa) for 1 mw of hydro electricity.
“This can help us get more energy, especially to rural areas to support farming, to support irrigation, to support water supply and rural electrification,” Fashola said on the occasion
But some investors say not much has been done. “They are still just news, yes we have heard of the assets listed for concessioning for private investments but we have not heard anything new, there’s has been no action from the government,” said O’neal Lajuwomi, hydro power projects promoter and CEO of Wave-length Integrated Power Services.
Lajuwomi, further said, “It may not seem significant but when you consider that 6mw of electricity can power about 6,000 house in rural Nigeria based on power consumption calculations, then you will see how it matters.”
While the Federal Government has committed to completing huge hydro power projects including the 3,050 mw Mambilla projects, 700-mw Zungeru, 250-mw Gurara and 35-mw Dadin Kowa, not much action is being taken on smaller hydro projects capable of delivering quick wins for the government.
