Power Supply To Niger Is A ‘Legal Covenant’ – Expert

Olabode Sowunmi, an Energy Analyst and consultant with the Senate and House of Assembly on Gas, has said that Nigeria’s power supply to Niger Republic is a legal covenant.

He said this during an interview on August 4, via Arise Television.

According to him, the power supply in Nigeria was not always this bad, and one of the challenges is to understand how we got here. He said:

“The planning and incremental capacity that was meant to be built were not touched throughout the 80’s and 90’s, so we had two decades where there was no infrastructure being built and people continued to grow.

“However, before that time, we had a legal covenant relationship with Niger Republic to provide electricity and it was also based on the understanding that in the early days, 80 to 90% of our electricity came through the Kainji dam.
“Most of the River Niger passes through the Niger Republic and if they also dam the water, and build their own hydropower plant, we will not have sufficient water in our dams to run the turbines. So, the understanding was that, given that what they needed to do at River Nigeria, was for power purposes, Nigeria would make available a percentage of the power being generated for them.
“So, these are legal covenants and obligations that we must do, which has happened over the years.

Meanwhile, during a separate interview on Arise TV on August 4, Aliyu Gebi, National Coordinator, Security Governance Initiative said that Nigeria ought to have bilateral engagements with the Niger Republic, separate from ECOWAS because both countries are partially linked by location, religion, military expertise as well as culture.

He said:

“Whatever affects Nigeria, affects Niger directly. The electricity given to Niger is not done on behalf of ECOWAS, it is Nigeria giving it to Niger in a bilateral agreement. And we give them electricity not as charity but in brotherhood and solidarity so that they do not need to dam the River Niger.
“It is Nigeria that pulled the plug on electricity, not ECOWAS, there are protocols in ECOWAS as it relates to sanctions, this is why Nigeria should have engaged with Niger, bilaterally first.”

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) confirmed cutting off electricity supply to Niger Republic as a direct consequence of its recent coup plot which saw the ousting of the country’s president by the Military.