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Acute shortage of electricity is a source of headache for both politicians and ordinary people in Nigeria.

The politicians who are promising to provide the analgesic to the problems have made the matter a campaign issue, even as some people are of the view that the issue is not being given adequate attention in campaigns.

Whereas to the ordinary people going through untold hardships under daily epileptic power supply, they are expecting the new leadership to fix the problem after the national election to be held in April.

Across the country, there is worsening situation of electricity for domestic and industrial consumption.

Many people are surprised to learn, Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa and the sixth largest oil exporter in the world, still scores low on the power generation, transmission and distribution chart in the world.

The Council for Renewable Energy in Nigeria (CREN) estimates that power outages brought about loss of 126 billion naira (US$984.38 million) annually to the country.

In Lagos, the commercial center of the country, and Abuja, the capital city, noise from rickety generators jam the eardrums of the people in addition to offensive black fumes.

Many workshops and factories have closed operations upon frequent power outages.

Power spending of banks and other financial institutions, which must operate on-line to their customers, has gone up.

Telecom companies' electricity spending has also shot up as they have to provide round-the-clock standby generators to power their cell sites and base stations across the country.

Many poor households now resort to use of kerosene lamps and candles to light their homes.

Even, pupils and students in the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, now predominantly resort to the use of lanterns and candles for reading even as charcoal irons are in vogue for ironing their clothes.

Nigeria's daily generated power volumes have dropped to an all- time low of 1,200 MW from 3,000 MW, according to the Report on the State of the Power Sector in the country, gazetted by the federal government.

There are many factors for the woes of the power sector.

Primarily, the state has neglected the development of power sector resulting in the late building of power infrastructure.

Investment in power sector was minimal and existing power plants are in poor generating conditions.

There are about 79 power plants in the country with only 19 operational.

Poor transmission lines are another contributing factor to the power problems.

Not many transmission lines were built due to inadequate maintenance and lack of commitment of government to building more transmission lines.

As a result, the National Electric Power Authority, now Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), is losing a substantial quality of power generated because of inadequate transmission and distribution facilities required.

Up to now, of the huge debts being owed to the PHCN, government and her agencies' account for about 5 billion naira (US$39.06 million).

Thefts of PHCN transformers and high tension cables have also impacted negatively on its operations.

Unrest in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, has delayed construction of power stations and gas distribution.

The Egbin Power station which supplies electricity to Lagos and its environs was shut down on March 11, 2007, as a result of shortage of gas supply.

Also the AES power plant in Lagos state was shut down due to the vandalization of gas pipeline.

Consequently, daily power generation dropped considerably to as low as 1,200 MW now from 3,000 MW at the end of 2006.

Gross incompetence on the part of managers of the power sector has also been blamed for the power outages being experienced in the country, that many Nigerians believe that the country is having the worst power situation in its history.

Corruption in high places even worsened the power situation. All factors in power crisis are directly or indirectly linked to the corruption as the practice stifles funds.

The Nigerian government has promised to give the nation 10,000 MW of electricity before the end of this year to underscore its seriousness on improving the power situation.

Apart from 1.3 trillion naira investment in power industry over the past eight years, the power supply situation has yet to be significantly improved.

Now Energy Minister Edmund Daukoru said his ministry was developing new capacities through the Independent Power Projects to add to the national grid.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2007)