The saying that money is not a tribalist will come to the fore again with the privatization of the Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria (PHCN). Those who have invested billions of dollars in distribution and generation firms will not want to play the politics of quota system with the supply of electricity as it was done when government was in business.
Already, a total of $3.3 billion has been paid into the coffers of the Nigerian government be the new firms. The expectation is that, these firms would no longer supply electricity to the villages in most parts of the north where there are little or no economic activities away from the bustling many commercial places in Southern Nigeria.
Analysts are of the view that, the recent development, which some selfish interest kicked against for many years, will after all become a catalyst for genuine economic development. This, they argue is because, the numerous bustling businesses in Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Warri, Kano, Ibadan, Onitsha, Aba, among others will now have the necessary power to drive industrialization.
This belief is already manifesting in some of the government businesses that have since been privatized. An instance of this is the former Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL). Before the coming of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), one of the factors that determine which corporate organization or individual has a NITEL line was the quota system.
Then, the distribution of telephone lines were ‘equitably’ distributed in the various states or regions, with little regard for value addition. It did not matter whether a place was a commercial or not.
For instance, some states in Northern Nigeria where there was little need for telephones had more than enough lines, whereas, a state like Lagos, the commercial hub of the country with so many businesses and individuals had to contend with what quota threw its way.
But with the advent of GSMs, the equation changed. In fact, it is a known fact that Lagos and the southern part of Nigeria control over 80 percent of GSM lines in the country.
Reports have it that, when the GSM companies were forced to close their operations in some parts of Northern Nigeria as a result of Boko Haram activities, they lost little or no income, and as such were least bothered by the closure.
According to Ikechukwu W. Agbor, a wireless telephony engineer, a look at these cellular telephone companies far back in 2006 shows a startling heavy penetration in the entire South. This penetration is measured in terms of number of BTSs or cell sites. The BTSs (base transceiver stations) are sited, based on desired coverage. Thus within a city, there are naturally more cell sites than in the outskirts. The engineering of the cell sites is also necessitated by the usage within the cell; what telecom engineers refer to as erlang. This is a term used to describe the total traffic volume in one hour.
He said, a tremendous growth in the total erlangs in the South has continued to outstrip the North astronomically.
Within a cell site in the cities, more transceivers (transmitters and receivers) which can in most simple cases be signalled by an incremental number of antennas on a tower are common. This is because of the higher coverage that is desired. This physical increase in the radios (transceivers) makes no sense when the quality of service (QoS), the capacity of a network to provide better service on particular network traffic is not taken into consideration. So to bring all these into perspective, more radios are needed and more calls have to go through.
He said, to telecom traffic engineers, whose job it is to marry these variants; a higher capacity switch becomes one in a line of solutions. So in a lay man’s terms, a higher capacity switch means a higher population, and therefore counterbalances higher erlangs. This growth, in terms of switches and cell sites are presently taking place in mostly Southern towns and cities. Once again the North is being left behind. These will become self-explanatory as we take a closer look at the coverage data of these companies.

Table
Glo Coverage in Northern Nigeria (2006)

Adamawa: Demsa, Michika, Mubi, Numan, Yola (5)

Bauchi: ​None
Benue: ​Otukpa, Otukpo, Ugbokolo (3)
Borno: ​Maiduguri (1)
Gombe: ​Ashaka, Gombe (2)
Jigawa: ​None
Kaduna: ​Jaji, Kaduna, Zaria (3)
Kebbi: ​​Birnin Kebbi (1)
Kano: ​​Kano (1)
Katsina: ​Katsina (1)
Kwara: ​Agase Epo, Eyenkori, Gambari, Ganmo, Gbagba, Idofian, Ifon, Ilorin, Offa, Omugo, Oro (11)
Kogi: ​​Ajaokuta, Ehiwaro, Idah, Jebbah, Okene (5)
Nasarawa: ​None
Plateau: ​Jos, Mangama-gamuo, Panshanu Buzaye (4)
Taraba: ​None
Sokoto: ​Illela, Sokoto (2)
Yobe: ​​None
Zamfara: ​None

Total number of towns covered in the North = 39

Table
Coverage in Southern Nigeria:

Anambra: ​29
Abia: ​​23
Akwa Ibom: ​3
Bayelsa: ​8
Cross River: ​None
Delta: ​​27
Ebonyi: ​1
Edo: ​​26
Enugu: ​23
Ekiti: ​​3
Imo: ​​52
Lagos: ​​20
Oyo: ​​18
Osun: ​​24
Ondo: ​​19
Ogun: ​​57
Rivers: ​16

Total number of towns covered in the South = 349

Table
From V-Mobile data

North West = 29 towns

North East = 23 towns

North Central = 28 towns (including Abuja)

Total number of towns covered in the North = 80

South West = 47 towns

South South = 69 towns

South East = 36 towns

Lagos Area = 37 towns

Total number of towns covered in the South = 189

Nigeria Airways

Another example of wastage of resources in government owned entities is that of the defunct Nigeria Airways.
Investigations reveal that some of the airports built in the spirit of quota system only have few passengers flying those routes, or at best are seasonally busy as a result of one activity or the other.
This is in spite of the fact that some other cities like Lagos need more than the share quota system had bestowed on it.
The result is that, while Nigeria has well over 38,000, mostly idle staff in its aviation sector, the whole of the United States of America with its number of very busy airports has just about 23,000.
Even when the U.S economy was shut down, 3,000 critical staff were able to cope.

Sales of DISCOs and GENCOs

With the current privatization in the power sector, old things and practices might have passed away, and practices and become new. Analysts say with the sales of distribution companies (DISCOs) and generating companies (GENCOs) to the private sector, some states where electricity was provided on the basis of quota system may not be as lucky.
This, they say is because, the new owners may not be interested in scoring cheap political points but will be more concern in putting smiles on the shareholders faces.
Ronke Osho, an economic analyst say commercial cities like Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Kano, Aba, Onitsha, Warri, among others will be of tremendous attraction to the new owners. According to her, many industrialist in these cities have battled to survive under the overhead cost from running generators.
She explained that, many banks, with most of their branches in the Southern Nigeria have their cost of funds as high as between 40 and over 70 percent because on epileptic power supply. Most of the banks, because of this spend an average of 60 kobo in generating N1 (100 kobo).
George Okon added that, this will enhance value addition to the economy as the megawatts that were formerly supplied to unproductive places will now be re-channeled to industrialized areas.
Before now, when one travel by road to some parts of the north, one will find light in hamlets wasting as there are probably nobody at home during the day time.
But under the new dispensation, nobody is expecting the new owners who have spent hard-earned foreign currency in buying the DISCOs and GENCOs to supply electricity with view of satisfying all the geo-political zones.
Kann Consortium paid $164 million for the Abuja distribution company, Vigeo Power Consortium paid $129 million for the one in Benin, West Power and Gas paid $135 million for the Eko distribution company, , while Interstate Electrics paid $126 million for the one at Enugu.
Integrated Energy paid $169 million for the distribution company in Ibadan, NEDC/KEPCO paid $131 million for the one in Ikeja, Aura Energy limited paid $82 million for the one at Jos, Sahelian Power SPV Limited paid $137 million for distribution firm in Kano, Power consortium paid $124 for the one in Port Harcourt, while Integrated Energy & Marketing paid $59 million for the one in Yola.
For the generating companies (GENCOs), Amperion paid $132 million for Geregu plant, Transcorp/Woodrock paid $300 million for Ughelli plant, while CMEC/Eurafric paid $201 for Sapele plant.

Table
Fossil fuel power stations
Natural Gas
Power station
Community
Coordinates
Type
Capacity
Status
Year completed
Additional description
AES Barge
Egbin
6°33′33″N 3°36′54″E6.55917°N 3.61500°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
270 MW
Operational
2001
Independent Power Project. [1] Light inside: the experience of independentpower projects in Nigeria. Nine gas turbines are mounted on barges.
Aba Power Station
Aba
Abia State
5°09′11″N 7°18′38″E5.15306°N 7.31056°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
140 MW
Taking off (I quarter 2013)
2012
It is private integrated power project being built by Geometric Power Systems. [2]
Afam IV-V Power Station
Afam
Rivers State
4°51′05″N 7°15′17″E4.85139°N 7.25472°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
726 MW
Partially Operational
1982 (Afam IV)- 2002 (Afam V)
Afam IV -6 x 75MW (GT 13-18), Afam V -2 x 138MW (GT 19-20),[3]

Afam VI Power Station
Afam
Rivers State
4°50′58″N 7°15′24″E4.84944°N 7.25667°E
Combined cycle gas turbine
624 MW [4], Shell.
Operational
2009 (Gas turbines) 2010 (Steam turbines)

Alaoji Power Station (NIPP)
Abia state
5°04′00″N 7°19′24″E5.06667°N 7.32333°E
Combined cycle gas turbine
1074 MW [5] NDPHC.
Partially operational(225MW) [6] The Nation
2012-2015 [7] Abiastate.
4 x 112,5MW turbines and later 2 x 255MW steam turbines. Plant is delayed due to evacuation capacity and securitization for Shell. [8]
Calabar Power Station (NIPP)
Calabar

Simple cycle gas turbine
561 MW [9] NDPHC.
Under Construction
2014 [10] NDPHC Presentation.
5 x 112,5MW turbines, Gas supply will available from 2014. [11]
Egbema Power Station (NIPP)
Imo State
5°33′56″N 6°44′18″E5.56556°N 6.73833°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
338 MW [12] NDPHC.
Under Construction
2012-2013
3 x 112,5MW turbines. Plant is waiting for evacuation infrastructure.[13]

Egbin Thermal Power Station
Egbin
6°33′47″N 3°36′55″E6.56306°N 3.61528°E
Gas-fired steam turbine
1320 MW
Partially Operational (994MW) [14]
1985-1986
Has six 220-MW independent units.Egbin – Thermal Power Station in Egbin, Nigeria
Geregu I Power Station
Geregu Kogi State

Simple cycle gas turbine
414 MW
Unknown
2007
The plant is during privatisation process [15]
Geregu II Power Station (NIPP)
Geregu Kogi State

Simple cycle gas turbine
434 MW [16] Siemens
Taking off (I quarter 2013)
2012
Has tree 146-MW turbines
Ibom Power Station (NIPP)
Ikot Abasi
4°33′53″N 7°34′06″E4.56472°N 7.56833°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
190 MW
Partially Operational (60MW) [17] ThisDayLive
2009
The plant’s overall generating capacity is technically constrained by existing transmission and distribution facilities of PHCN and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to only 60mw.
[18]
Ihovbor Power Station (NIPP)
Benin City
6°24′20″N 5°41′00″E6.40556°N 5.68333°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
450 MW [19] NDPHC.
Under Construction
2012-2013
4 x 112,5MW turbines, Plant can’t be launched due to delayed evacuation capacity. [20]
Okpai Power Station
Okpai

Combined cycle gas turbine
480 MW
Operational
2005
Independent Power Project. [21] Light inside: the experience of independentpower projects in Nigeria.
Olorunsogo Power Station
Olorunsogo
6°52′55″N 3°18′52″E6.88194°N 3.31444°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
336 MW
Partially Operational
2007
8 x 42 MW [22] Sepco3, Working below capacity due to gas supply issues. [23]
Olorunsogo II Power Station (NIPP)
Olorunsogo
6°53′08″N 3°18′56″E6.88556°N 3.31556°E
Combined cycle gas turbine
675 MW [24] NDPHC
Partially Operational
2012
4×112,5mw and 2×112,5MW steam turbines. [25]
Working below capacity due to gas supply issues. [26]

Omoku Power Station
Omoku

Simple cycle gas turbine
150 MW [27] Rocksonengineering.
Operational
2005
6 x 25MW gas turbines

Omoku II Power Station (NIPP)
Omoku

Simple cycle gas turbine
225 MW
Under Construction
2013[28] FMI
2 x 112,5 MW gas turbines
emails and other details are not available at the moment.
Omotosho I Power Station
Omotosho
6°44′09″N 4°42′39″E6.73583°N 4.71083°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
336 MW [29];
Operational
2005
8 x 42 MW
Omotosho II Power Station (NIPP)
Omotosho

Simple cycle gas turbine
450 MW
Operational fully by NDPHC [30] The Nation
Partially operational (375MW) By China Machinery Engineering Corporation [31] BusinessDay.
2012
4×112,5MW, The plant is build and operated by China Machinery Engineering Corporation
Sapele Power Station
Sapele
5°55′31″N 5°38′44″E5.92528°N 5.64556°E
Gas-fired steam turbine and Simple cycle gas turbine
1020 MW
Partially Operational (135 MW) [32] Information Brochure
1978 – 1981
Most of units requires major overhaul.
Plant is build in 2 phases. Phase I: 1978-1980 6 x 120MW Gas-fired steam turbines , phase II: 1981 4 x 75MW gas turbines. The plant is during privatisation process.
Sapele Power Station (NIPP)
Sapele
5°55′40″N 5°38′41″E5.92778°N 5.64472°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
450 MW
Operational [33] The Nation
2012
4×112,5 MW [34] NDPHC. Despite power plant activity, power outage cripples local business activities in Sapele. [35]
Delta – Ughelli Power Station
Ughelli
5°32′28″N 5°54′56″E5.54111°N 5.91556°E
Simple cycle gas turbine
900 MW
Partially Operational
(360 MW) [36] Sweetcrude,[37] Uyo Summit presentation
1966-1990
Most of units requires major overhaul.
Plant is build in 4 phases. Phase I: 1966 (decommissioned today), phase II: 1975 6 x 25MW turbines(GT 2-8), phase III: 1978 6 x 25MW turbines(GT 9-14), phase IV: 1990 6 x 100MW turbines(GT 15-20), The plant is during privatisation process.[38]
Coal[]
Power station
Community
Coordinates
Type
Capacity
Status
Year completed
Additional description
Itobe Power Plant
Itobe Kogi State

Circulating Fluidized Bed technology
1200 MW
Planned
2015-2018 (first phase 600 MW)
The first phase consist of four 150MW units. Actual effort is focused on development mining to establish additional coal resources. [39] Zuma Energy presentation.
Hydroelectric[edit]
Hydroelectric station
Community
Coordinates
Type
Capacity (MW)
Year completed
Name of reservoir
River