Proloque: I wrote this Paper in 2005 as the government was discussing unbundling the services of NEPA, now PHCN. I sent it to the then Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE). I dug it out from my archives in response to Acting President Jonathan’s request to the United States to assist us audit our power infrastructures. I believe most of the points made in 2005 are valid
today.
Read and critique.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper discuses what needs to be on the ground before the unbundling of National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) may be undertaken successfully. The writer chose this title because of his belief that a faithful implementation of the steps set down herein will affect the fortunes of, not just NEPA and its employees, but also those of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and others who provide direct or collateral services to these corporations. Genuine customers of NEPA would also be incidental beneficiaries.
This paper firstly urges the establishment of a central database for both the employees and customers of NEPA, a centralized bill payment centre, and the use of the post office for sending the payment to the Central Payment Processing Centre. This paper will then describe how these actions will boast the income of NEPA and NIPOST, create employment opportunities for both industries and those that service them, minimize corruption and put an end to the man-hours which Nigerians waste when they queue up everyday at various NEPA Accounts offices to “doctor” and pay their bills. This paper is of the view that if NEPA truly has 4 million customers and they send their payments through NIPOST, the revenue accruing to NIPOST at 10 Naira per customer is 40 Million Naira per month and 480 Million Naira per annum.
Finally, this paper will discuss how the Databases set up herein should be put into use for the benefit of those who will finally purchase NEPA or its divisions. Information in the databases may also be used to set up income tax database for the various levels of government, viz, federal (corporate) states and Local governments. The writer travelled to Nigeria twice in the past six months and was outraged at the level of NEPA’s inefficiency and insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians and Nigerian economy. The writer is motivated and encouraged by the current clamp down on corruption by the Federal Government. At the end of this paper, the writer hopes to justify the title. The writer believes that the rot currently called NEPA is the catalyst that will propel Nigeria into greatness.
2. CENTRAL DATABASE OF NEPA EMPLOYEES
Throwing money at a problem without identifying who eventually spends the money has not been shown to solve the problem. It is humans that cause empires to rise or fall not the material wealth of the empire. The government should not continue to spend money on any parastatal without finding out the identity of those who work in that parastatal and exactly how the money already thrown in was spent. Recently, the Managing Director, Mr Joseph Makoju, blamed the disappointment over poor supply in the economy on the nation’s aged power generation facilities and transmission lines, which, according to him, 90 % were over 40 years old. He did whether the entire money spent on NEPA in the past 6 years was used to replace or refurbish only 10% of the old facilities or to provide new facilities. Are Nigerians not tired of replacing “amoebas” that get broken everyday in the lab?
TO BE CONTINUED
Emeka Maduewesi, Esq., LL.M, is admitted to practice law in Nigeria and the State of California. He is the Publisher of http://www.nigerianlawregistry.com and http://www.nlid.info