The Nigerian economy would be headed for collapse should the National Assembly pushes through the idea of outlawing importation and use of generators in Nigeria without fixing the ailing power sector, stakeholders have posited.
According to the stakeholders, which include members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS), labour and players in the power sector, the proposed ban would be tantamount to shutting down the economy, which depends almost entirely on generators; from factories to warehouses.
The stakeholders, who spoke with BusinessDay on Thursday in reaction to a bill seeking to criminalise importation of generators, which passed first reading in the Senate on Wednesday, described it as misguided.
Sponsored by Bima Enagi (Niger South), the bill proposes a ban on use of all types of generators, except those providing essential services- hospitals and other health facilities. It prescribes ten years prison terms for violators (importers).
Joe Ajaero, General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), in an interview with BusinessDay, said that the legislators were disconnected from the economy and people, urging the government to rather fix the power to give fillip to the economy and create jobs for the people.
Timothy Olawale, the Director General of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) also knocked the bill for lack of merit.
According to Olawale, the ban would be inimical to the quality of lives of Nigerians and national development.
He explained that small and medium size businesses would be killed as almost all of them use generators in the operation of their businesses.
“It is no gainsaying that the nation is faced with serious energy challenges, which predates the privatisation of the power sector. While we agree with the imperative to protect Nigerians from environmental pollution and associated risk, we affirm that criminalising the importation and usage of generators is a crude and non-ingenious way to deal with a serious national issue.”
He further argued that a knee-jack ban on the sale and use of generators without resolving the challenges in the power sector would further compound the challenges faced by businesses.
“Currently the power sector lacks enough infrastructural facilities to guarantee power generation and efficient distribution by the DisCos. Legislation should focus on ensuring improved infrastructural development that will facilitate efficient distribution of power to the offices and homes of Nigerians.
Nigerians should not be punished for the ineffectiveness and policy inconsistencies of successive governments,” the DG posited.
Oyinkan Olasanoye, president, Senior Staff Association of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), argued that a ban on generators cannot be the priority of Nigerians at this time. She observed that barbers, tailors among other small business holders relied on generators given the unreliable electricity supply from the national grid.
“Government cannot be encouraging production and at the same seeking to ban generators except there is no coordination among the various arms of government. That would be policy inconsistency, and we simply don’t know what this is all about,” said Olasanoye.
Nigeria, according to claims by Saleh Maman, minister of Power, currently generates 13,000MW of electricity, transmits 7,000MW to DisCos, which distributes mere 3,000MW to millions of end users across the country.
JOSHUA BASSEY
