THE sudden shut down of the Kainji Dam presumably led to a sharp drop in electricity supply nationwide over the past few weeks. For a country that has been operating under acute deficiency and regular outage of electricity power, that incident has aggravated the social and economic plight of Nigerians. And although there have been reports of resumption of operation at the Dam, most parts of thecountry has remained in widespread darkness and discomfort. The prevailing dry hot weather has been unhelpful in giving respite to the citizens.It is alarming that the Kainji Dam, the nation's foremost hydro-power station, could be left to degenerate to the point of being shut down, thereby compounding the wobbly electricity sub-sector that has not made any perceptible improvement despite all the promises in that direction. Sadly, problems of the dam leading to power outage has become a yearly occurrence, Before now, the regular excuse was the dryness and low level of the River Niger, which invariably left insufficient water to power the turbines. Lately, it was shut down for what was officially described as 'excessive water leakage.' The Minister for Power, Professor Bart Nnaji said the leaks, if not stopped, could flood other power stations.And, to prevent the flooding, all the five units of the power station were shut down while effort to rectify the problem was initiated. The Minister said all the divers in the service of the station were mobilized to trace the leakage.The plunge in power supply is disconcerting, given the high hope of improvement raised by government through the much-talked about power reform programme. Apart from the dashed expectation of Nigerians, the development has thereby increased their health risk amid soaring temperatures all round the clock, and the attendant discomfort. The latest situation is not only embarrassing, It has aroused concerns as to the efficacy of the power sector reforms, which already is being reportedly threatened by several unresolved labour matters.Besides, the Kainji shut-down came on the heels of a recent loss of 625MW power from shortfalls in gas supply to leading thermal power plants in the country. The combined effects of these two developments obviously compounded the shortfall in power output nationwide.The Kainji Hydro Power Station, construction of which began in 1964, was completed in 1968 to generate 760 megawatts of electricity and boost power supply in all the major cities in the country. Some of the power is exported to the neighbouring Niger Republic. The dam, which is the precursor of the Jebba and Shiroro dams, has not lived up to expectation, generating less than 450 megawatts of electricity and bogged by poor maintenance. There is little indication that it has ever been overhauled since establishment, or that such overhauling has produced a marked improvement in its services.Consequently, some of the critical turbines in the facility are reportedly out of service. Not surprisingly, it degenerated in the leakage, which could have been detected through regular maintenance. All this point to a serious defect in government's power sector reform, and raise apprehension on the huge public expenditure on the programme. Furthermore, the situation casts despair on the fate of public power generation, which has been in the front burner for more than a decade with practically no result.The Obasanjo administration had in 1999 at his assumption of office promised uninterrupted power within 18-months of his administration. But that did not work. His successor, President Umaru Yardua dilly-dallied on a plan to declare power emergency, which was not done before he became very ill and passed on.The Jonathan administration began by setting up a Presidential Task Force on Power that culminated with the launching of the Power Sector Reform Programme in 2010 with great fanfare. That too is yet to manifest in concrete terms. It will be unacceptable for the entire Jonathan administration's power sector reform to end up like the rigmarole of the previous administration.Nigerians are bearing the brunt of this failure that goes to the root of governance. Clearly government will be measured partly by its success or otherwise in providing electricity to galvanise the economy positively. The present condition certainly does not justify the pressure on Nigerians to pay more for electricity. President Jonathan must demonstrate more commitment to saving the country from epileptic power supply with all its damning effect on the nation.
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