How sure is Sure-P?

BY YEMI OLAKITAN 

In 2012, the Federal Government had explained that subsidy removal was necessary to end the vast corruption taking place under the subsidy regime, and promised to reinvest the saved money into infrastructure, health and education. The government had to introduce a partial subsidy as a result of widespread protests that took place against the subsidy removal, and set up a fund into which the saved money would be channeled. 

This fund was called, the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) it was charged with using the subsidy savings to invest in infrastructure and empowerment initiatives that benefit Nigerians.  With $2.5 billion having flowed into the project – and a further $1.6 billion in 2014 – what has SURE-P achieved so far? Ag. Head of Investigations, Yemi Olakitan takes a critical look at the programme, examining the controversies.

On Monday, 2 January 2012 in response to the removal of the subsidy on oil  by the Federal Government of President Jonathan on Sunday, 1 January 2012, widespread protests took place across the country. The protests was tagged Occupy Nigeria. 16 people were reportedly killed during the protests. The protest was characterized by demonstrations.

The country  is said to be the largest producer of crude oil in Africa, but still imports fuel despite producing about 2.4 million barrels of crude oil daily which is exported to be refined abroad and exported back into the country. American states person, Hilary Clinton, during a visit to Nigeria described the situation as ‘‘a clear case of mismanagement.’’

 Cheap petrol is regarded as the only benefit Nigerians receives from the state, hence the widespread disapproval. Governor of the CBN  Lamido Sanusi said the subsidy was unsustainable". The government explained that subsidy regime in which fixed prices are maintained irrespective of market realities has resulted in a huge unsustainable subsidy burden. Fuel subsidies do not reach the intended beneficiaries. Subsidy level is correlated with household income, as richer households consume larger quantities of the products.

According to the Federal Government at the time, subsidy administration is beset with inefficiencies, leakages and corruption. Subsidy has resulted in the diversion of scarce public resources away from investment in critical infrastructure, while putting pressure on government resources.  Subsidy has discouraged competition and stifled private investment in the downstream sector. Due to lack of deregulation, investors have shied away from investment in the development of refineries, petrochemicals, fertilizer plants, etc. Investigations reveal that since the year 2000, government has issued 20 licenses for new refineries, none of which has materialized into new refineries. The deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, it was argued will lead to private sector investment in refineries and petrochemicals, which will generate millions of jobs and bring prosperity.

Huge price disparity has encouraged smuggling of petroleum products across the borders to neighboring countries, where prices are much higher. Nigeria therefore ends up subsidizing consumption of petroleum products in neighboring countries. Despite the explanations given, protesters refuse to cooperate with the government. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had tried to remove the subsidy but have backed down because of protests and reduced it instead.

As part of palliatives aimed at cushioning the effects of the subsidy removal, the federal government had announced a ‘massive transportation scheme’ about 1600 diesel-powered mass transit vehicles, was promised to be distributed. In a similar vein, President Good luck Jonathan established the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P as a palliative measure. He inaugurated a committee to manage the Programme. The Committee had the following membership: Dr. Christopher Kolade, CON Chairman, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (Rtd) - Deputy Chairman, Hon Minister of Finance/CME Member, Hon. Minister of Petroleum Resources Member,  Hon. Minister National Planning Member, Hon. Minister of State Health Member, Prof. Kunle Ade Wahab  and others. 

The president explained that The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program (SURE-P) is an intervention mechanism for the nation’s development.

 ‘‘I inaugurated the board of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) under the leadership of Dr. Christopher Kolade. I also had the great privilege of kicking off the Public Works Women and Youth Empowerment Programme which is an intervention programme designed to employ 370,000 youths in the year 2012 with 30% of those jobs being reserved for women. This programme will also place young graduates as interns in firms and companies with a view to sharpening their skills preparatory to engaging in entrepreneurship and those firms that choose to retain these graduates will be given incentives by the Federal Government. This is only one step in government's plan to provide the enabling environment for all willing Nigerians to get to work and compliments the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (You Win) initiative which I launched on the 11th of October 2011.’’

According to the PDP led Jonathan’s Government, the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme was designed to mitigate the immediate impact of the partial petroleum subsidy removal on the population by laying a foundation for the successful development of a national safety net programme that targets the poor and vulnerable on a continuous basis.

Regrettably, SURE-P has been trailed by one controversy or the other. Chief of them was the N2.2billion SURE-P fund reportedly used for secretarial services and another N500 billion allegedly missing. According to the then Chairman, Christopher Kolade of the Sure-P committee who later resigned on the ground of old age, the media had promoted the inaccurate story that such an amount was missing from the fund. The former chairman said in an interview that it was all a widely celebrated rumour, he said,   ‘I have a grouse against the media. First of all, if you look at our accounts, our budget; you will find the amount earmarked for secretariat services, in order words, for running our offices and staff, etc nationwide for 2012. It was only N1billion, so if anybody is going to spend more than N1 billion on the secretariat, he has to go back to the National Assembly to get funds from other places to supplement the N1 billion. So, we did not have N2.2 billion. What has happened; we put down our reports to the National Assembly that so far, to that point, we had spent N220 million on secretariat services. Somebody in National Assembly read that to mean N2.2 billion. When we went to National Assembly and they said how come you spent N2.2 billion for secretariat services, I said where is that? And they said we should look at our account. We said, no, read it properly, it’s N220million. Members of the media were there. When the publications started, it was N2.2 billion they published. They did not attend to the correction that we made that it was N220 million. Until now, we are still talking about N2.2 billion. I don’t know what else my committee should do to correct this and therefore, I go back to what I said about the N500 billion allegedly missing. There are mischief makers here. There are people who are deliberately spreading wrong information because they want to create confusion.’’

Critics also accused the SURE-P of duplicating projects and defrauding the nation by making double payments for projects already embarked upon and financed by the various ministries and agencies. The National Assembly had also took a swipe at the  Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), describing it as a drain pipe on the Nigerian economy, it called on the government to scrap it if there were no improvements. The Lawmakers who expressed their lack of confidence on the activities of SURE-P stressed that the agency was a duplication of activities already carried out by existing Ministries, Department and Agencies, MDAs in the country.

The former chairman Dr. Christopher Kolade, CON who later resigned, citing old age, had explained that the SURE-P’s funds are split between the Federal Government and States and Local Government, and are used in two ways: to help fund infrastructural development; and to support social security programmes related to issues such as women and youth empowerment, unemployment, and community service. He also said the programme was an intervention mechanism aimed at helping out on government’s abandoned projects or improving on them.

Investigations revealed that, when the National Assembly asked SURE-P in November 2012 to produce its 2012 budget expenditure analysis, lawmakers were dismayed to hear that lots of the things SURE-P committee members pointed to were projects already being carried out by the Federal Government. The SURE-P board claimed to have spent N16 billion ($100 million) on the Benin Ore Shagamu road – a project for which the Federal Government had already awarded a N65.2 billion ($400 million) contract in September 2012 – and said it had contributed N9.3 billion ($57 million) to the Lagos-to-Ibadan railway – a development for which a $1.4 billion contract was signed between the Federal Government and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) in August 2012.  Senator Danjuma Goje, a member of the Senate Committee on Petroleum said, “They are not initiating any new projects, they only put money into existing projects.”

Furthermore, reports reveal that SURE-P had come under heavy suspicion of succumbing to corruption. The Kaduna State House Assembly was reported to have ordered the suspension of SURE-P in the state and constituted a committee to investigate the implementation of SURE-P’s state projects and activities. Allegations of dubious transactions and misappropriation were leveled against the programme coordinators in the state with a reported N560 million ($3.1 million) missing from the Kaduna State SURE-P coffers. 

“My opinion is this, the SURE-P programme appeared well thought through,’’ said Ezekiel Keith, who described himself as a social critic, he said, ‘SURE- P is a well structured programme that can benefit Nigerians but like always we are plagued with the Nigeria factor. ‘‘All we have seen are fine buses in Abuja, the federal capital.’’  He said, ‘‘the committee needs to do more to improve the living conditions of Nigerians in the grassroots across the nation. Millions of young Nigerians are still unemployed.’’

Dr Christopher Kolade speaking on the activities of SURE-P said the programme has been misunderstood by most Nigerians. Dr. Christopher Kolade said it is an interventionist project.

‘‘I do not know why most people are misunderstanding the word ‘’intervention.’’ The normal programme of government will be going on. How did this intervention come about? The federal government decided to de-regulate the petroleum industry.  It is the oil subsidy that provides the fund with which SURE-P carries out its project. You know that government at the beginning wanted to withdraw the entire subsidy but when there were protests, government did a partial withdrawal, so that the petroleum we have been buying N65 per litre now became N97 per litre, there was an increase of N32. We will now use the money they withdraw on meaningful projects. Government has decided what to do with the money. The money that was now going to accrue will be shared to the states and local governments. For 2012, it was calculated to amount to N180b. The federal government defines the projects we embark upon. There is a document called the SURE-P programme which guides the projects we embark upon.  Most of these projects are in categories; components.’’ he said.

 Speaking further, he said, ‘‘I have seen a lot of media comments almost insinuating that we are doing wrong projects or that we don’t know what we are doing. No, it is not true, we are an intervention body, we can only intervene the way government said we should do. The state and the Local Governments of the Federation have their own SURE-P budget and they are in sole control of it. The beneficiaries on our scheme are private sector operators as we are Federal Government Scheme; hence we operate independently from state and local government,’’ he said.

Dr, Kolade explained the committee’s involvement in road contraction. According to him, this focuses on accelerating the completion of the long standing East – West Road by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA). The 338km road connects the following towns in the Niger Delta, South-South Zone:  Effurun/Warri – Ughelli – Patani – Kaiama – Mbiama – Ahoada – Elele  – Emouha  –  Choba – Port Harcourt – Onne – Ogoni – Eket  – Oron and Calabar. The SURE-P funds is managed by The Infrastructure Bank (TIB), they are responsible for monitoring the loans and payment to suppliers and operators.  Sure-P intervention in the rail subsector i.e. for the three main projects, covers: The rehabilitation of the Western line (Jebba – Kano Line Rehabilitation Project); The rehabilitation of the Eastern Line (Port Harcourt – Maiduguri Rehabilitation Project); The Nigerian Railway Modernization Project (Abuja (Idu) – Kaduna, Addendum I, Segment I)). The Western line rehabilitation consists of two (2) contracts, namely:  Contract I – Lagos – Jebba, and Jebba – Kano.  The Eastern Line Rehabilitation consists of three (3) contracts, namely: Contract 3 – Port Harcourt – Makurdi, Contract 4 – Makurdi – Kuru, Contract 7 – Kuru – Maiduguri.  There is also the Modernization Project like in Contract (1) (Idu – Kaduna), SURE-P also focuses on the completion of core road projects by the Federal Ministry of Works, spread across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria.

On his dissatisfaction with SURE-P, the Chairman of the joint Committee, Senator Magnus Abe, PDP, Rivers South-East said, “From the details presented before us here, it is believed that the performance of your 2012 budget was put at only 31 percent. You have to sit up in 2013; else, Nigerians will start losing interest in you.  Our fears are not with your credibility, but the fact that these main roads are the same also awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works during this period. The committee said however that unless the organization provides its full details of 2012 dealings, it would not debate the 2013 budget and therefore directed the chairman, Dr Christopher Kolade to furnish it with the details before it considers the next sitting date to debate on the budget.

It has also been alleged that SURE-P is well intentioned programme but is being poeticized and given a bad name by opposition politicians and that some APC states are not giving SURE-P enough public awareness in their domain yet they draw huge amount of money every month from the proceeds from the subsidy removal. They keep quiet about the gains accruing from partial fuel subsidy removal, whereas state and local governments appropriate funds from subsidy removal on a monthly basis and the federal government is ploughing back its own portion into various states and the local governments through SURE-P.

As a result the management of the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) has become a subject of accusation and counter-accusation between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Cleric and politician, the General Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare said SURE-P is another drain pipe of the country’s economy embarked upon by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Bakare said: “If people are saying that PDP is sharing the subsidy reinvestment fund, I would not be surprised. If PDP does not share the money, who will? Do you think the PDP has good intentions? I felt pity for Kolade when he was appointed to head that committee. In response, a chieftain of the PDP in Ekiti State and former South-West publicity secretary of the party, Mr. Kayode Babade, said the ACN goofed on the issue at stake.  “It is nonsense for ACN to accuse PDP on a programme it did not have the fact on how it is being operated.’’  

Public Relations Officer of the SURE-P committee, Mr. Adelani Ashamu, said it was unfortunate that the ACN failed to ask its governors what they did with their 54 percent of SURE-P funds accrued to their states every month before poke nosing into that of the Federal Government activities. Ashamu pointed out that the Federal Government used its own share of SUPE-P funds (41 per cent) as an intervention on infrastructural projects like roads across the country and re-vamping of rail system.

According to former Chairman Christopher Kolade, SURE-P also started a Graduate Internship Scheme, and the Maternity and Child’s Healthcare programme. It trained about 4,000 midwives to deliver maternal services to pregnant women and to people in childbirth.

‘‘This is an intervention mechanism. People must remember that the business of government is ongoing. In fact, the area that SURE-P intervenes in does not represent the totality of government activity. For instance, we are not doing anything on housing, we are not doing anything on maritime. Government activity is going on all the time but this SURE-P money is money that was not in the normal budget. So government has decided to use it to supplement what they are doing with the normal budget. So for instance, if you take any road construction in which we have now come to intervene, what we do is to say, according to the budget of the ministry of works, how far have you gone with this road already? Let’s say the totality is 200 kilometres and they tell us they have done 70 kilometres. The question we pose is how much will your budget do in the next 12 months and they tell us they can do another 25 kilometres, we then go from that point, we now apply our own funds to continue. We don’t change contractors because that means you are doing something new, the contractors are ready to do this work, but the pace of funding has been slow, so we say to the contractors that okay, we are now going to12 months give you more money, so although you have said you will do only 95, how far can you go if we are able to give you another N40 billion? And they say in the next 12 months we can do another 50 kilometres. We are concerned with only 50 kilometres. So it’s not a duplication, it is supplementary, that is why it is an intervention,’’ he said.

A Nigerian, name with held, while criticizing SURE-P graduate internship programmes said, ‘‘3000 young people in paid N10, 000 employments for one year! What exactly is that waste of money for? What happens after the one year? What kind of short sighted policy is that? after almost an identical spend during the poverty alleviation scheme. How about set up loans - or guarantee loans for green - field business, so that actual businesses can start and employ this youths for periods far in excess of one year and still pay back to the government?  Money given to companies to employ youths for internship programme - who thought up this scheme? What happens after the government stops paying the money? Was there any form of policy analysis before this was adopted? How about an easier to manage and less prone to corruption, tax breaks for companies that employ Nigerian graduates. It is less prone to my paying my cronies for fiction internships and could be managed through existing tax laws using the universities and the NYSC scheme. 

 Community members travelling around to visit road projects- really? Are these committee members trained Engineers? What would they know about the quality of a road project? What happened to the Engineers trained and employed by the Ministry of Works?’’ he quarried.   In furtherance of the mandate given to the committee, President Goodluck Jonathan early this year appointed Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) as the substantive chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) Gen. Martin Agwai (rtd.) was until then the Deputy Chairman and Acting Chairman of SURE-P.  Dr. Kolade had resigned citing old age.  Agwai is currently the chairman of the Committee and has continued the federal government’s efforts aimed at reinvesting the subsidy removal fund into infrastructure and empowerment projects across the nation.  In the words of Ezekiel Keith, ‘‘one can only hope that the controversies will end so that meaningful progress can be achieved.’’

 

   

    

DISCOS’ prepaid meters: Waiting for Godot

Yemi Olakitan 

When it was revealed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that electricity consumers would now use prepaid meters instead of the estimated billing system, many heaved a sigh of relief. However, Nigerians have been plagued with disappointments as the promised meters have refused to come. The consumers have continued to complain about the situation and it seems there is no solution in sight. Ag. Head of Investigations, Yemi Olakitan, examines the issues.

Electricity generation began in the country in 1896, specifically in Lagos when the first power plant was built. However, over the years, population has increased more than electricity supply can catch up with in the country. Reforms aimed at meeting the demands of Nigerians have not changed the situation of power in the country while neibouring and smaller countries such as Ghana and Benin Republic are enjoying uninterrupted power supply. Nigerians can only hope and dream. The major reforms really began in 2001 when former president Olusegun Obasanjo set up the National Electric Power Policy. The National Electric Power Authority, NEPA, was then renamed the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) with the formation of 18 companies. In his first 100 days in office, which began on May 29, 2007, having been sworn in as Nigeria’s President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua made major public policy pronouncements concerning the perilous state of Nigeria’s energy and power sectors respectively. He pledged to improve the existing poor state of power generation capacity in the sector by declaring a state of emergency on the sector.

However, the situation remained the same until his demise. When President Goodluck Jonathan came on board, he also set up the Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP), which plays a major role in reforming the sector. The PACP provides an oversight of the implementation of reforms in the sector. President Jonathan created the Power Sector Reform Roadmap which led to the construction of new plants. He also pursued the privatisation of the generating plants (GENCOs) and the distribution companies (DISCOs) believing that when they are in the hands of private companies, electricity generation and distribution will greatly improve.

The government succeeded in getting the GENCOS and DISCOS privatised despite the Labour movement’s resistance. The ownership of these companies was transferred in November 1, 2013 and the government assured Nigerians that meters would be distributed free to consumers to ensure accurate billings for domestic and industrial consumption.

Later on, Nigerians were asked to pay between N25, 000 and N50, 000 for prepaid meters under the Credited Advance Pay for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme.

The exercise raised hullabaloos, still many paid to get the meters installed while others exchanged their old meters for the new one. A few Nigerians are using the prepaid meters while the majority are still awaiting the new prepaid meters which according to experts are far better than the estimated billing system which is being practised by distribution companies.

The introduction of the prepaid meters, according to reports, will ensure that Nigerians are set free from the era of indiscriminate bills by officials of the Power Holding Company using the estimated billing system. This is why the introduction of the prepaid meters was greeted with great hope and relief. However, Nigerians are yet to have the prepaid meters that were promised them. They have continued to suffer epileptic power supply amid huge electricity bills.

Investigations by Sunday Mirror reveals that the prepaid meter if introduced would need to be credited with funds of the subscriber before the consumer will have access to electricity. The estimated billing system which is currently used by the distribution companies allows the subscriber to start using electricity from day one even without paying for it. This way, the practice of bribery for free electricity can be sustained and distribution companies can continue to bring outrageous bills to consumers even when they do not enjoy the electricity.

Reports revealed that a prepaid meter system has far more numerous advantages over the estimated billing system. This includes allowing the subscriber to only pay for what he can afford in advance and so it is budgetfriendly. The estimated billing system doesn’t control what the subscriber uses and it is less budget-friendly since a consumer could use more than he budgeted.

Another benefit of prepaid meter billing system is that it encourages savings on electricity consumption. One can choose not to use electricity for a period and in this way minimise his bills. The bills one may have to pay may be the service or maintenance bills which are at a flat monthly fee. The estimated billing meter system doesn’t encourage savings on electricity consumption since there is always a monthly fee to be paid for electricity supply whether power was available or not.

In a chat with Adesina Idris, the supervisor of Alesh Hotel, Lekki, he said, “The officials bring exorbitant bills to us every month and we have to pay otherwise our light will be disconnected. They did not even approve the prepaid meter for us. We have the estimated billing meter and we are paying a lot of money on that. This last money we paid was about N530, 000. Our bill usually starts from N350, 000 per month. We have been saying that this bill is exorbitant even though we call their boss, the ‘Oga of the NEPA’. They say he is on leave. They are using it for business. Anyone working with them can arrange something like that every month. The least bill they give us here is N350, 000. In fact, we have been paying our profits to this people. It’s crazy we have requested for the prepaid meters but they have refused to give us. The bills are too much even if we resort to our own generators we still have to pay. This thing is on a monthly basis. It is killing business; with the estimated billing system these officials no longer read the meters but they just ensure that people pay a fee every month and this has been increasing over the years. Government should do something about it; electricity should be more affordable. These are the remote causes of unemployment in the country. If the cost of staying in business is too high, many people will close the business and then there would be unemployment. This is the problem we face and it is killing the economic situation. The prepaid billing meter should have been made available to all,’’

In 2007, many Nigerian consumers of electricity believed the solution to ending the headache of estimated billing on the old post-paid meters was to apply for a pre-paid meter. But five years after, they are more disillusioned than ever. However they still get outrageous bills every month even when power supply is not commensurate. Many paid for a prepaid meter before the privatisation of PHCN. Till today, no meter has been given to them. Every month, they get outrageous bills. The situation is compounded by the irregular and inadequate power supply.

In another chat with Mrs. Florence Akereja, she said, “In my compound, we have paid money twice to the officials. .The first time we paid the money, we waited for so long expecting them to come and install the meter. Later they said the man to do so has been transferred. Another official came and promised us heaven and earth that the prepaid meter will be brought to us. We contributed money; there are about 10 families in our compound. It is absolutely a residential home. Till today, we are yet to receive the prepaid meter and we don’t know why.”

Investigations by Sunday Mirror reveal that consumers prefer the prepaid meter to the estimated billing meter system but many do not have it neither do they know how to get one.

In another chat with Mr. Babatunde Adisa, Managing Director/CEO, Bamaja Entertainment which includes a hotel, restaurant and cinema in the heart of Ebute Metta, Lagos, he said, his company spends so much money on diesel for our generators.

“If we add the amount we spend on generators to the electricity bills we pay, you will discover that it comes very difficult to pay salaries to our workers. It is only by the grace of God that we are surviving in business. Speaking on the benefits of the prepaid meter, he said it allows for privacy because all you need is to buy the recharge cards and then load it in your meter. There would be no need for company officials to visit your home or office just to record the last meter reading before issuing a bill. The prepaid billing also does not give room for bribery and corruption. There is no need for one to bribe any official; it is what you use that you pay for. It is just like loading cards in your GSM phones. It will also benefit the companies in the sense that it reduces their cost of operations. There would be no need to have hundreds of officials who manually go about to read meters from house to house. It pays both sides of the bargain. The actual point we are now is that some people have the meter and the majority do not have it,’’ he said.

In a discussion with Mr., James Xavier, an IT professional on the benefits of the prepaid billing system, he said, ‘‘Landlords and tenants no longer have to worry that their power will be cut by the PHCN officials when bills are past due since they can be paid in advance under the prepaid billing system. The incidence of bribery among electricity consumers and the power company officials is drastically reduced. Under the whole system, consumers who have not paid bills tend to bribe the company officials in order to enjoy free electricity and this doesn’t help the organisations generate the income due to it; even the growing complaints from consumers about over-estimated or ‘crazy’ billing can come to an end. NERC needs to step up its game and keep the DISCOS on their toes in making the necessary investment to ensure a robust metering of customers and curb the wild estimated billing. A prepaid meter is an electricity meter which only provides the subscriber with power after payment has been made. This can be in the form of a meter token or credit purchased prior to use. If this is done, we would have put an end to the era of crazy electricity bills in Nigeria.”

According to a report by NERC, the metering gap in the Nigerian electricity market is big, with about 50 per cent of consumers being without meters. Investigations reveal that there is growing demand for prepaid meters by consumers, but the new investors in the electricity distribution companies (DISCOS) have done very little to make prepaid meters available to consumers who are willing and ready to buy. Based on the proposals submitted by the core investors of the DISCOS, about 6.52 million new meters would be installed over five years, meaning more than one million would be installed yearly. The situation on the ground reveals that the DISCOS are far away from this goal as many consumers are still waiting for the prepaid meters.

In a reaction to consumers’ complaints, the Chairman of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), Mr Abiodun Ajifowobaje, revealed that no fewer than 43,000 prepaid meters have been tampered with by their owners out of 134,000 installed by the company in the last five years. This stunning figure represents about 32 per cent of the total number of the item managed by the electricity company. According to him, those engaging in such practices pay less on power, while the bulk of the power they consume is not being paid for.

“When people tamper with the prepaid meter, it’s difficult to know because the meter will still be reading but not accurately. It is only through careful finding that such practice can be unconverted. 6,000 prepaid meters were currently in store, and would be allocated to customers that had made deposits for them. Applicants for prepaid meters that have yet to make any deposits will benefit from the next phase,” he said.

On estimated billing, Ajifowobaje stated that the company was following the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s directives.

However, a consumer who craved anonymity said, ‘‘Prepaid meters are being used globally even in poor West African countries without problems, but here in Nigeria, we are still wandering in oblivion. It is time we put in the right perspective as far as electricity supply is concerned. Byepassing meter is a crime, be it the analog or the prepaid. It should be punished severely. But estimate billing is worse. It is exploitation and fraudulent. Meters are the property of DISCOS. Consumers pay monthly meter maintenance charge of N750. This too is an aberration where there is no functional meter or meter reading. Neither the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 nor the Metering Regulations code of NCC requires that it must be a prepaid meter, but we cannot choose to be outdated while the nation is moving forward.’’

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company, EKEDC, on its part blamed the delay in the rolling out of prepaid meters to consumers on the fear of bye-pass of its meters. The company’s Vice President, Legal, Mrs. Wola Ojoye, said that bypassing of payment for electricity consumed was evident mostly with prepaid meters.

She said this fear has been responsible for the company’s inability to distribute the 9,000 prepaid meters it inherited from the defunct PHCN when it took over on November 1, 2013, adding that these meters go into negative use after consumption of electricity already paid for by the consumers.

She said the company was prepared to partner with manufacturers of best quality prepaid meters that would not be bypassed by its consumers, stressing that whether such meters were locally made or imported was not the issue.

Ojoye said EKEDC has a plan to roll out meters in the country, noting that the plan has already been forwarded to the electricity sector regulators, NERC, in Abuja for their approval. She said the company met enormous problems when it took over, stressing that what EKEDC met was not what it was told.

The Federal Government and electricity workers have been divided over the cause of the inability of the PHCN to ensure effective metering of its customers across the country. The government had earlier through NERC promised to distribute the meters free and then made a U-turn when it said the meters must now be procured by customers. The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) blamed the government’s action as the cause of the scarcity.

Minister of State for Power, Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi, however, absolved the government of wrongdoing on the issue. Kuchi said paying for the meters was necessary, because government could not afford to pay for the meters. She added that the money for meters was not included in the appropriation bill, and that any customer who paid for a meter would be compensated over time; such customers would get energy credit and reduction in their fixed charges over time. The National Secretary of the union, Joe Ajero, however, lamented the inability of the Federal Government to build meter manufacturing companies, which he blamed for NERC’s inconsistent pronouncements on the prepaid meter payment. He said, most of the meters that were in use across the country were being imported by government, a situation that had contributed to the scarcity.

However, investigations reveal that earlier in the year, a consortium of companies in the country had sealed Memorandum of Understanding with some Chinese group of investors for the assembling and manufacturing of the prepaid power meters. The deal was reportedly consummated at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, in Abuja and was facilitated by the Nigeria – China Business Council led by its National Coordinator, Mr. Matthew Uwakwe. A statement from the ministry stated that the agreement was signed by representatives of Skydeep International limited, Mattek Oil Services Limited, Temps Engineering and Gestric Limited, Craag Nigeria limited, JMET Corporation and Jiangsu Sainty International Group. The objective of the agreement was to facilitate financing, procurement and operation of independent power plant projects as well as the local assembly and manufacturing of prepaid power meter, assembly and manufacturing of recharge cards and setting up of skill acquisition centres for capacity building.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali, said local manufacturing of meters was a priority for government since the government hoped to provide meters for all Nigerians.

However, another customer, Pastor Clement Ofunoye, said he successfully procured the prepaid meter for his home about five years ago and he has been using it since then.

‘‘Though the complaints made by many consumers are real. Some of us still have the prepaid meters in our homes,’’ said the cleric.

According to him, his experience on the prepaid meters has been positive.

‘‘I have not had any negative complaints. The process is like the GSM phones. It is what you pay for that you will use. It is a better system. I hope the Federal Government will live up to its promises and make the meters available to all Nigerians because it is the way to go. A situation where some have and others do not is not advisable. This makes the (DISCOS) use one system for some and another system for others. We are all Nigerians. The constitution guarantees our freedoms and welfare in our country. It is high time we got it right when it comes to electricity in Nigeria because without electricity the country cannot move forward as it should. Nigeria must take her rightful place in the comity of nations; we must achieve uninterrupted electricity and it starts from simple matters like the meters. If we cannot get simple things such as meters right, what happens to bigger ones such as electricity generation, ’’ he asked.

The scourge of homelessness in Nigeria

YEMI OLAKITAN

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica on the subject of housing, ‘‘few social problems have increased so suddenly or been dramatized so effectively as the plight of the homeless in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Once an invisible people who could easily be ignored, the homeless are now recognized everywhere on the streets and in the public facilities of major cities.’’   

This quote describes the situation of homeless people everywhere and Nigeria is not an exemption. In major cities of the country such as Lagos, Porthacourt and Abuja homeless people are easily noticeable on the streets. It is not unusual to see someone sleeping under the bridge or by the roadside. The United Nations Statistical Division sets homeless persons into two broad categories:  Primary homelessness (persons without roof on their heads). This category includes persons living in streets or without a shelter or living quarters; Secondary homelessness. This category may include persons with no place of usual residence who move frequently between various types of accommodation (including dwellings, shelters or other living quarters); and persons usually resident in long-term ‘transitional’ shelters or similar arrangements for the homeless. This category also includes persons living in private dwellings but reporting ‘no usual addresses on their census form.’’

Homelessness is in fact a global tragedy according to Mr. Kayode Akorede a sociologist and educationist; he opined that it is a problem that is not limited to Nigeria alone. ‘‘It is a global problem. Homeless people are everywhere. It is a problem that is often neglected by governments particularly in Africa simply because they live it in the hands of the individuals. Government should rise up to the occasion because homelessness is a problem that can be solved if they put the proper policies in place. Private developers only build expensive homes that can only be afforded by the rich alone. This is because their only aim is to make huge profits at the expense of the populace.’’

Investigations by Sunday Mirror confirmed that homelessness is common in major cities of the country.  In Lagos touts popularly known as ‘Agberos’ often live in motor parks, garages, some live under the bridges. Sexual workers with no roof on their heads live in slums and beaches with houses built with bamboo leaves. There are also hundreds of people who live in slums built on top of lagoons who are not sexual workers on touts, people who live in uncompleted buildings and badly built houses made of planks and polythene bags. In a chat with a young lady, a Ghanaian living in Nigeria, who gave her name simply as ‘Surprise’ she said, my mother and I ran away from home in Accra, Ghana because of my father. He was a very violent man. In fact he can be described as terrifying. He was having issues with my mother. If we stayed in Ghana, he would still have looked for us, so we escape to Lagos, Nigeria. When we came to Lagos, it was difficult to find a decent accommodation because accommodation is expensive in here; the only accommodation we could find was built with planks. During raining season we often suffer a lot because the roof leaks. It is usually a nightmare and we still have to pay rents because we rented the place. We have no choice, we have to manage what we have until God provides another option,’’ she said.

In another chat with a Nigerian mother of four who lives in an uncompleted building in Ajah, Lagos and refers to herself as Mama Tunde, she said ‘‘my husband works in Lagos Island, he is a polygamist, we were living in a room with my children, his other wives do not live with us though. When we could not pay house rents the landlord got angry and he kicked us out. We went through great pains looking for alternative accommodation because it is way beyond our reach because of the costs, all the agents we talked to were quoting high sums of money. We had to pay agreements fee and commission fee. The owners of the house also want two years house rents in advance despite the law made by the Lagos state government that they should only collect one year rents. My husband then arranged an uncompleted building for us to live.  We have been living there since we were kicked out by the landlord. We still pay but it is not as high as paying for normal accommodation.’’ On how she has been coping with the situation he said, ‘I have been coping, I have no choice.’’

According to James Xavier, who described himself as an IT professional and a Lagosian, ‘‘there are many people who live under the bridges many people live on the streets. They have no place to stay. It is crazy; mad men roam the streets naked at times and in the night they lay anywhere they see and sleep. Sometimes it is difficult to ascertain whether these people are really mad because the case of Clifford Orji is still very fresh in mind. Clifford was reported to be a ritualistic serial killer who lived on the streets of Lagos, by day he pretended to be mad and at nights he carried out his atrocities until the hands of law caught up with him. Evil men often pretend to be mad or homeless while they lay in the dark to kill innocent people at nights. Homelessness in Nigeria in the urbanized cities particularly in Nigeria can go from the genuine to the pathetic and to the criminal. It can fall into different groups. What about streets kids, known as Almajiris in the North, many of them have nowhere to stay? Homelessness is real even some people who you think have proper accommodation are living under terrible conditions. Many are living in slums’’ he said.

Speaking further, James said, ‘‘Demolition of structures, which is most common in Lagos and Abuja, is another cause of homelessness in the country.  The Governments have a history of demolition of homes without providing alternatives for the people who are being displaced. In actual fact, it is enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria that government shall be responsible for providing basic accommodation for the people of Nigeria. They say that people are building illegal structures. Why would they build illegal structures in the first place if they have the resources to build legal ones? It is lack of resources that make people build houses wherever they find, ’’ he said.

Investigations revealed that, Twenty-two plaintiffs had recently commenced a suit against the Lagos state Government under the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, on behalf of other residents. They are claiming N100 billion as damages from the police. The people claimed that the Lagos state Government had wrongfully demolished their homes in the Atinporomeh Community in Badagry. The plaintiffs are claiming damages against the respondents, for alleged wrongful demolition of their houses.

According to reports, nearly 10,000 residents of the community have now been displaced following the demolition of their homes despite a subsisting legal suit over the land.  The community’s problems began on December 14, last year, when the police authority brought a notice of eviction which claimed that the Nigeria Police Force had become the “rightful owner” of the community’s land, the law enforcement agencies, accompanied by bulldozers, stormed Atinporomeh demolishing schools, churches, hotels, shopping complexes, as well as residential homes.

A report by Amnesty International says, ‘‘over 1.5 million people have been ejected from their homes and driven into street life following the wave of ejections and demolition that began all over the country in 1995, similarly, the Social and Economic Rights Action (SERAC) estimates that in just one location alone—Ogunbiyi village of Ikeja, Lagos, about 12 thousand people were forcibly ejected from their homes in December 2005 by the action of the Nigerian Police, Army, and Federal Task Force on Environment; and that often, victims of forced evictions have been government workers living in publicly owned apartment buildings.’’ 

Investigations by Sunday Mirror reveals the condition of the homeless in the country, people live like rats and cockroaches in makeshift facilities under bridges, slums, beaches and at abandoned buildings; some engage in petty trading for their survival, earning meager amount of money. Others are regular employees in government or in the commercial sectors, but are homeless because they were forced out of their homes and cannot afford rent for homes due to high demand by landlords and Real Estate agents. Reports reveals that the problem of educated and employed homeless persons is common in the Niger Delta areas such as Port Harcourt, Warri, Sapele, Agbor, and Ughelli—in these places landlords are inclined to solicit or court employees of oil companies who can afford to pay inflated rents from their high salaries. Many are forced into nefarious activities such as prostitution, pimping, drug peddling, and robbery. In Lagos state the homeless include young boys and girls scattered over the fifty-two development areas of the state among which are the marked dangerous zones under the bridge sections such as Ojeulegba, Orikpako at Ijora, Alaba, Ajegunle, Badagry, Ojota, and Ikorodu.

Another common feature in many large cities in the Northern Nigeria is the presence of homeless kids and youth, also known as “Almajiris.  In Lagos, these children work and live on the streets, mostly with their mothers. They work as beggars puling people’s clothes are they walk by, though, the federal government have made attempted to remove these children from the streets in the Northern part if the country. They have not done so in the southern parts of the nation.  Investigations reveal that, the problem of homeless kids, begging on streets is not limited to the North alone.

Hawking and street trading is usually common with some of these older children, particularly teenagers or young adults.  Many of these children run away from home, struggling to support themselves through various means. They are often sleeping beaches at nights after their day’s activities.

In another chat with Mr. Femi Gbolahan, an educationist, he defined homelessness as the “condition of people who lack regular legal access to adequate housing”. According to him, many factors could lead to homelessness. Some of them are local or regional unemployment, war, racial discrimination, mental or physical disability, terrorism as it is presently experienced in the North Eastern part of the country.’’

According to the United Nations, the number of homeless people globally is estimated to be in excess of 1 billion; it says it is impossible to get the actual number.  This is because of the transitory nature of the homeless. Whereas the homeless population in the West is largely made up of men, (though the proportions of women and children are steadily increasing), the homeless in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, appear to be mainly children, women and youth.  Reports show that homelessness is mainly an urban problem. This is partly because of the commercialization of land and housing markets in the world. Homelessness among families with children is increasing not only in low income countries but also in high income countries despite their high level development.

According to report by UNICEF, It has been suggested that possible reasons for leaving home may include abuse, a desire for excitement or relief from oppressive home conditions, conflicts within the family; physical, emotional and sexual abuse; single parenthood, poor parenting, poverty, termination of education, child labour and peer influence. 

Young people may become vulnerable to all forms of abuse and hazards on the streets. They are especially harmed by harsh physical conditions, violence and harassment, labour exploitation, absorption into criminal activities and denial of their right to receive an education that will equip them for a better life. Many of these homeless children are usually seen dodging traffic as they sell goods to passing motorists. While many are engaged in legitimate work, others are involved in illegal activities including engaging in crime and theft, pick pocketing, commercial sex or drug trade.

Investigations reveal that, homeless children and youth in Nigeria are mainly from large families. In this regard, the pursuance of aggressive family planning programmes to reduce the present high level of fertility is important. The high degree of extortion and exploitation and abuse of homeless children testify to the violation of their human rights. This calls for an urgent need to protect the right of the homeless child. Besides, poverty, polygamy, marital disruption in family life and large family sizes, are major background characteristics of the homeless children and youth. The low status and polygamous family background coupled with the high fertility and marital disruptions may have created a condition in which homeless youth must have received inadequate parental care. The street life is such that the children and youth are exposed to various hazards.  They face a number of problems ranging from financial problems to harassment and extortions from police and miscreants known as area boys, or Agberos.  Insecurity, severe beatings and fighting, sexual abuse (especially of the females) are common experience of Nigerian youth facing the problem of homelessness.  

In another chat with Mrs. Shola Abimbola, an educationist she opined that, ‘the judiciary and the law enforcement agencies need to understand the problems of homeless persons so that their sympathy can be engaged. The need to improve the access of children to education is important.  There is the need to intensify education on the risk inappropriate sexual behaviour such as having multiple sexual partners, unprotected sex, and commercial sex.

There is also the need to step up efforts to eliminate substance abuse. The involvement of governmental and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as well as religious bodies would be useful in this regard. Finally, more research should be carried out on homeless people in Nigerian cities especially in Lagos and Port Harcourt. This would provide the basic descriptive information that could assist in putting in place the relevant programmes that would reduce the problem of homelessness among Nigerians particularly the youths. Support could be sought from national governments and international bodies such as UNICEF, World Bank, USAID and many others.’’

In a chat with Barrister M. Shittu, Real Estate Investment Attorney, on the solutions to the problem of homelessness in Nigeria, he said, ‘‘there are many people that are suffering from homelessness in Nigeria. In fact the stories can be pathetic. The worst thing is that there is no relatable statistics on the problem.  We don’t know the actual number of homeless persons in the country.  There are numerous Nigerians living in uncompleted buildings, slums, under the bridge, beaches, badly built homes. My Company is planning a NGO on the issue. This is to tell you the extent of the problem. We know the extent of the problem we are stakeholder in the industry. People come to my office with different tales. This gentleman here, (pointing to a man in office sitting in front of him),’’ is here because of the same problem.  The landlords have just sold his house he still staying there and he could not raise the money to get another apartment for his family. The solution is clear; government must step in through private and public partnership. We need robust policies that can provide comfortable accommodation for our large population. Some of the things they must do are to reduce taxation on those that inventing in real estate or building mass housing. Government must provide an enabling environment for them. They should also provide land for our people to build.  It is very important that government should return land to the people. Anybody that needs land should just go to the government and get it. Look at the number of young people on our streets.  The government cannot claim ignorance of the problem. Many of these young ones have no place to lay their heads. You can go to the beaches at nights. Many sleep there.  The problem of land acquisition by government, demolition of structures without an alternative provision for the people is completely unacceptable. Government should return land to the true owners; they should return land to families and communities.  The people that actually own them should have them from the government instead acquiring them and denying the people. The government will just go to one particular area and declare it as government acquisition. This is wrong.  The opportunity of developing the land is taking away from the people. We need to completely minimize the costs of building or contracting homes. How are our fathers building homes in the olden days? They do it with low cost materials. They do it with mud bricks, our government should look at ways of building using low cost materials like our forefathers did. We can use burnt bricks which are far cheaper for low income earners. Anyone earning N500, 000 in a year should be able to build his own home. Our mortgage banks also need to look at loans for low income earners. The government knows what to do. As we are speaking, they have fantastic polices in place but do not have the political will to implement these policies. There is also the Nigerian factor, the problem of corruption. We cannot continue to play lip service to tackling corruption and expect a better life for the people, add to this, is the problem of collapsed buildings.  There are policies and institutions that are set up to tackle all these problems. Government policies on housing will continue to remain on paper, and we will never be able to solve our housing problems if we continue to pay lip service to issues of corruption.’’

Sunday Mirror investigations on recent government efforts to tackle the problem include,  a major bid to bridge the housing deficit gap in the country, put which the federal government put at 17million deficit, the Federal Government in a report says it has embarked on various policy reforms as well as some intervention programmes. For instance, the idea behind the establishment of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company, NMRC, by the federal government was to expand the frontier of funding for housing finance.  NMRC was conceived to bridge the funding cost of residential mortgages and promote the availability as well as the affordability of good housing to Nigerians by providing increased liquidity in the mortgage market through the mortgage and commercial banks.  The NMRC is a key component of the Nigeria Housing Finance Programme which was initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMOF), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Ministry of Lands & Urban Development & Housing and the World Bank/IFC, with the principal objective of addressing the long-term funding constraints hindering the growth of the primary mortgage market, and reducing the costs of residential mortgages and available housing to working Nigerians.  Under this programme, the federal government has rolled out 10,000 mortgages for first time home buyers, especially the young people. In order to achieve a portal was created and prospective house owners have applied and applications are currently being processes by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. Making clarification on the first phase of the affordable housing scheme in Abuja in January, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala had said “We try to aim this scheme primarily at the first time home buyer who is on the market to purchase a home costing between N2 and N20 million. So we try to keep it low to address the first time buyer and above all, our young people,” the coordinating minister noted as she unveiled the programme in Abuja. “With the 10,000 mortgage scheme, Nigerians can now begin to realise their dream of owning a home and looking forward to improving socio-economic outcomes”, the coordinating minister added. Another laudable programme aimed at addressing homelessness in the country was the recent flag-off of the N2.4trn Centenary City project and lately the constitution of three critical committees to push for the actualisation of housing for all programme.  Other institutional step taking by the government also includes the set up of critical committees to look at the housing programme of government. Some of the committees include the Ministerial Committee on Presidential initiative on the delivery of 10,000 Housing Units under the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company, Ministerial Committee on Verification and Auditing of Federal Government Lands and Landed Property in the 36 States of the Federal and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Ministerial Committee on National Housing Survey.

While the committee on the delivery of NMRC 10,000 housing units, headed by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi, is expected to come up with clear action plan, set targets and timelines for the actualisation of the housing project, propose sound eligibility criteria for the participation of developers and builders, the Verification committee is set up to carry out a comprehensive inventory and auditing of Federal Government Lands and Landed Property across the 36 states of the federation, including FCT, Abuja, and carry out a review of the current use of the assets with a view to effectively putting them to use.  In this same vein, the committee on national housing survey, is saddled with the responsibility of ascertaining the characteristics of the various housing estates developed by the Ministry, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) over the last four years and propose a framework for undertaking a national housing survey in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and recommend concrete measures to operationalise it. Efforts are also being made to review land policy in Nigeria especially as it concerns the power of the governor under the Land Use Act, to regulate all issues regarding access to land. Also in order to set standard in the housing sector and prevent sharp practices that often result in building collapse, a committee set up by the government to review the National Housing Code has submitted a revised National Housing Code and ready for the approval of the Federal Executive Council.

In a chat with our correspondent in Abuja, Mr. Ayoola Ayedogbon, an Abuja resident, said that although government had begun to show seriousness in addressing the housing problem in the country, it had not achieved the desired result because some of the programmes and policies merely operate on paper rather than in reality. For instance, he said the pocket of interventions of government, particularly in Abuja has not resulted in housing provision for those who needed houses. According to him, some of the houses purportedly conceived for the low income earners are being bought over by moneybags, politicians and their cronies. "If government is serious about bridging the housing deficit gap in the country, it must make the process of housing acquisition, especially those conceived principally for certain segment of the society, transparent," he said.