An energy consultant, Dr. Yussif Sulemana, has advised policymakers to collaborate with independent power producers (IPPs) to find a long-term solution to the impending power crisis.
His request comes in response to a mandate issued to its members by the Chamber of Independent Power Producers on June 30 to reduce supplies to the national grid starting on July 1.
In an interview with the media, Dr. Sulemana expressed concerns about the potential negative impact on businesses if the IPPs, including Sunon Asogli, Cenpower, Karpowership, AKSA, Twin City Energy, and CENIT, proceed with their threatened actions.
“If people of such nature are threatening to take your power from your national grid, you have every cause to worry. If they should stay on course and go by their threat, we are going to have serious problems, as in dumsor. I think nobody wants to go back to such an era. We all know what the dumsor era came with.”
“When it happens, definitely businesses are going to be affected, SMEs, domestic holders, industry are all going to be affected. I just want to urge policymakers to engage these IPPs in good faith, so that an amicable solution will be reached, so that the IPPs will not take power from the national grid. If they do that, the situation is going to be dire. Government should negotiate in good faith,” the Energy Consultant opined.
Dr. Sulemana underscored the non-negotiable nature of addressing the concerns raised by the IPPs and recommended that the government consider a middle ground to engage with them.
“Dealing with IPPs now is non-negotiable, and we cannot joke with, so I want to urge the government to see to whatever the problems are, come together with the IPPs and even meet them halfway. From the time they [IPPs] started talking about this issue, nothing concrete has come out of it,” Dr. Yussif Sulemana.
Dr. Sulemana expressed his concern over the contrasting perspectives presented by the government and the IPPs, describing the situation as “worrying.” According to him, the divergent narratives paint a disconcerting picture of the overall situation.