Nigeria MDAs to spend N22 billion on generator maintenance in 2023

Several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government in Nigeria will spend about N22 billion on generator maintenance by 2023, a PREMIUM TIMES analysis has shown.

N22 billion will be spent on generator maintenance and fuel due to unstable electricity supply in Nigeria.

The amount is spread over more than 200 MDAs and is expected to be higher as many agencies did not show the cost of generators in the 2023 budget proposal.

Some institutions whose budget expenditures for generators are not listed in government budget documents are included Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service, and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), among others.

Nigeria has struggled with poor electricity supply for decades, often caused by generation and transmission problems. In 2022 alone, the country’s national network will collapse eightfold. To facilitate their operations, private businesses and government companies often rely on alternative sources of electricity, mainly generating sets.

In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigerians depend less on generators in their homes and businesses. But analysts disagree with the position as many Nigerians continue to suffer the ripple effects of low electricity supply.

Nigeria has the lowest access to electricity in the world, with about 92 million people out of the country’s 200 million population without access to electricity, according to the Energy Progress Report 2022 released by Tracking SDG 7.

Manufacturer in Nigeria spend at least N3.5 trillion to find alternative resources for production.

Last June, the World Bank said Nigeria needed about $100 billion in the next 10 years to address challenges in the energy sector.

Expenditure details

According to the budget expenditure details of ministries, departments and agencies, many MDAs have chosen alternative resources. The maintenance nature of MDA’s plan to carry out the generator sets was not immediately clear, but details indicated that billions of naira would be spent on the generators.

The Nigerian Army tops the list of institutions with the biggest proposals with a budget proposal of N1.1 billion for generator maintenance. A spokesman for the Nigerian Army, Onyema Nwachukwu, did not provide details of the planned expenditure when contacted in December.

In addition, the Federal Road Safety Commission will spend N663 million on generator maintenance while the Nigeria Police formation will spend the sum of N591 million. The Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital has budgeted the sum of N303 million while the National Food and Drug Administration Control Agency (NAFDAC) will spend the sum of N298 million.

The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria proposed N238 million; The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will spend N277.8 million; National Eye Center Kaduna proposed N230 million; and the Nigerian Navy plans to spend N224 million.

Other top spenders are Federal University of Agriculture Umudike which budgeted N225 million; University of Lagos with N218 million; Nigerian Defense Academy with N211 million; Nigerian Film Corporation with N188 million; while the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation budgeted N160 million.

Failure, wasteful spending

The former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi, said the budget allocation for generators by the government meant that the privatization exercise had failed.

“The fact that the federal government is still budgeting huge sums for generation and maintenance costs shows that privatization has not been done as expected. Overall the government is estimated to have spent about N2 trillion on the power sector post privatization,” he said.

“One of the objectives of the reform is to ensure that the government does not spend more on the power sector and save the savings to other human development projects,” he said.

He said the purpose of privatization has been defeated by the continuous budget allocation for power generation and distribution, the two sectors that have been privatised.

Ijeoma Okereke-Adagba, a program officer at the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development, said the budget expenditure on generators is a waste of national resources, especially now that the country is dependent on external sources to fund the budget.

Mrs Okereke-Adagba said the government’s focus should be on how to generate revenue to fund the budget and reduce wastage.