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Nigerians to Suffer More as Government Seek To Ban the Use of Generators

A bill titled “a bill for an Act to prohibit the exportation of generating sets to curb the menace of environmental (air) pollution and to facilitate the development of the power sector” passed first reading at the floor of the Senate on Wednesday 11th, 2020.

The bill is sponsored by the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Muhammed Bima Enagi (Niger North, APC). It was clearly stated that the ban shall not include generator sets used for essential services in facilities such as hospitals, health care facilities, nursing homes, airports, railway stations, elevators, research institutions, escalators and facilities that require 24hrs power supply.

However, for any exclusion whatsoever, approval must be obtained from the Minister of Power, and such approvals must be presented to the Federal Executive Council by the Minister every quarter.

The Senate has already started making moves to jail anyone who buys or sells generators going forward. All persons are to stop using generating sets which run on diesel, petrol, and kerosene of all capacities in the country. Anyone guilty of breaking the provision of this bill is liable to conviction and will be sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

To Nigerians, Generator Is the Main Source of Power, Government Supply Is the Standby

Nigeria is one of many developing countries in the world where the supply of electricity is completely unreliable, better said, unavailable. Generators have served as suitable replacement for the generation of power to homes, offices, hospitals, factories for so many years in Nigeria.

The lawmakers may think they are doing the nation a favour by placing a ban because of course, noise is just one of the many drawbacks of using generating sets, the unspoken etiquette of how long one leaves a generator working into the night and neighbours cannot sleep. On the other hand, most of the fire outbreaks in major markets in the country, and even domestically, are mostly from generators related fire incidences.

The fire outbreak in Enugu State on January 3rd, 2020 was caused by generators used to power some shops in the Ogbete main market. The fire outbreak that destroyed 7 buildings, including offices in Balogun Market in Lagos was caused by the refuelling of a running generator by a man who later died from the outbreak. Not to mention unreported cases of domestic fire accidents caused by faulty generators or absolutely due to human negligence.

All these cannot be compared to the negative effects that will be felt from this ban. Lack of electricity or rather, unreliable electricity supply are key obstructions to doing business in Nigeria. In the absence of electricity, many of these businesses depend on power from generators to thrive. Services like tailoring, hairdressing/barbing, supermarkets/kiosks, laundry, local food processing, business centres/cyber café, restaurants/eateries, cold rooms, etc. will all suffer from this ban if the bill becomes a law.

The Negative Impact of Non-Availability and Reliability of Electricity on Nigerians

It is easy to place a ban, but the power sector has not promised to improve its availability and reliability. Nigeria national grid runs on nine or fewer hours of power supply daily, the rest is run by generators and inverters. Inverter cost ranges from 200,000 and above depending on the capacity, while a small tiger generator cost is about 30,000 and 48,000 above for higher or other brands; which makes it more affordable for an average person than an inverter.

According to Africa Check Report, as of 2019, there were 100M generators in private hands in Nigeria. A good percentage of business outfits in the country have and use generators as a supplement for power generation to run their day to day activities. Should these activities halt or wait in a situation where the power sector fails to provide electricity?

The bill they say, also seeks to facilitate the development of the power sector, what then happens to the oil sector? In a country like Nigeria, one out of every five litres of diesel or petrol is used in generators, so placing a ban on its usage will mean that the demand for fuel and diesel, except for vehicles, will drop. This will also be a huge loss for companies that produce or sell generators within and outside the country. Some companies still have products stored, newly produced and newly imported generators yet to be sold.

This does not in any way seem like lawmakers have eyes for things that are beneficial to the public. There is the social media bill, hate speech bill, the bill for the de-radicalization and rehabilitation of Boko haram, and now the bill for the ban of generating set. This will not only affect businesses but the lifestyle of every individual who goes home to no electricity but has a generator that cannot be used.

Surprisingly, in January 2020, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ordered all distribution companies to hike the tariff of electricity in the country despite the fact that the last tariff review in 2015 failed to follow through on its promise to provide stable electricity supply and solve the problems of the power sector.

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