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Enough is Enough Nigeria Concept Paper – LightUp: Facilitating access to Power for 1 million Nigerians

“O God of creation, direct our noble cause. Guide our leaders right; help our youth the truth to know.”

- 2nd Stanza of Nigeria’s National Anthem

Context/Background

Nigeria’s power has perennially defied a solution to cater for commercial and residential

consumers. The lack of electricity has hampered innovation, manufacturing and the growth

of SMEs resulting in an economy and quality of life that’s sub-optimal.

Because of its critical importance to the economy and the lives of Nigerians, successive

administrations have invested mindboggling sums of money (in billions of dollars) into the

sector. During a 2015 probe by a Senate Ad-hoc committee on the power sector, the

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, and the Managing

Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, Mr. James Olotu, disclosed that an

estimated ₦2.73 trillion ($16 billion) was appropriated and ₦954.95 billion ($5.6 billion)

released between 1999 and 2014 in the yearly budgetary allocations. This excludes ₦155.10

billion ($912.35 million) released as intervention funds to the ministry for the Multi-Year Tariff

Order (MYTO) to cushion the effects of the shortfalls in expenditure for the power sector

between 2009 and 2013.

With every contract or reform program, there have also been allegations of corruption

(including the ‘generator cabal’), it’s quite difficult to determine how much has really been

invested in the sector.

From National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to Power Holding Company of Nigeria

(PHCN) the problems have remained the same and it’s not for lack of regulations or

guidelines. We have the National Energy Policy (2003), the Electric Power Sector Reform

(EPSR) Act, 2005; the National Energy Master Plan (2006) and the Renewable Electricity

Policy Guidelines (2006) to name a few.

The Goodluck Jonathan administration embarked on the Power Sector Road Map in August

2010, using the Electric Sector Power Reform Act (2005) as a guide. This ended with the

privatization of PHCN and its unbundling. PHCN’s assets were divided into 11 DISCOs

(distribution companies), 6 GENCOs (generating companies) and the Transmission Company

of Nigeria (TCN) which was not privatized. The unbundled assets were handed over to

investors on November 1, 2013 at a price of $3 billion.

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NEPA -> PHCN -> DISCOs – Nigerians will tell you there’s no difference as the sector

continues to battle with various technical and operational issues which include gas supply to

the thermal power stations; gas pipeline vandalisation; problems with metering by the

distribution companies; the weak power distribution infrastructure, and the low capacity of

the national power transmission grid.

Synopsis

In the midst of all the challenges within the power sector citizens have been left to bear the

brunt with epileptic supply at seemingly high tariffs. Since 2015, EiE has worked with various

stakeholders in the power sector. In January 2016, the weekly #OfficeOfTheCitizen program

on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM in Lagos has provided a platform to discuss the issue on a regular

basis.

Between April and July 2016, EiE successfully worked with the Araromi Mende Residents

Consumer Protection Advocates (a community in Lagos) in engaging Ikeja Distribution

Company (IKEDC). We will use their experiences to teach citizens about their rights and

responsibilities and legal ways to dispute resolution. We will focus on helping individuals and

communities to demand for quality service from the Distribution companies under their

jurisdiction and facilitate a vibrant stakeholder community to ensure prompt and better

service delivery to consumers. These stakeholders are: The Ministry of Power, National

Electricity and Regulatory Board (NERC), Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Distribution

companies (DISCOs) and Consumers.

The objectives for the Power Sector Consumer Education are:

1. To enlighten power consumers of their rights and responsibilities.

2. To establish an open forum where consumers can engage their DISCOs and NERC

especially for dispute resolution (through a technology-based intervention and

conventional town hall meetings)

3. To drive the advocacy for the elimination of estimated billing and under metering of

consumers by DISCOs.

4. To provide feedback and tips to stakeholders in order to promote efficiency and fast

track achievement of desired results in the power sector.

The process for building and deploying the tech-based solution as well as other activities to

create awareness for consumers will be as follows:

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Town hall Meetings

In July 2016, EiE hosted a town hall meeting focused on Ikeja Electric Distribution Company

(IKEDC) and transferring the success story of the Araromi Mende Residents Consumer

Protection Advocates in demanding better services from IKEDC. The aim was to have

communities come together and act as active citizens.

A fall out of that town hall meeting is to scale up and have sub-national town hall meetings

across the some communities covered by each DISCO will be embarked on to empower

consumers on their rights as provided by NERC and their obligations. The forum will also

serve as ways to assisting communities resolve disputes with their DISCOs.

Production and distribution of information materials

‘NERC 101’ consumer info graphs and other materials on rights and obligations.

Radio and TV (Media platforms to educate)

Advert and placement in Newspapers

Hackathon for Tech-Based Solution

A hackathon is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in

software and hardware development collaborate over a predetermined period with

graphic designers, interface designers and project managers on a defined software

project. It’s a common feature for technology for development projects as it provides

access to expertise that the hosting organisations would otherwise be unable to pay

for at commercial rates. While participants ‘donate’ their skills and time, they get

bragging rights and a token gift.

The Office of the Citizen (OOTC) Hackathon 1.0 was hosted in August 2015 and open

to the public. For the ACE (Active Consumer of Electricity) platform we will invite

some of Nigeria’s leading programmers, graphic designers, UX professionals and

consultants to build the platform.

The ACE Hackathon is an invitation-only hack as we hope to get the best techies who

are passionate about social change. Our proposed partners include Andela, CCHub &

IDEAs. The hackathon will take place over a weekend and portal review and

proposed launch set for February 2018. The outcome of the Hackathon event is the

‘Active Consumer of Electricity Platform’.

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Platform Deployment and Operation

March to May 2018 will serve as the test months and full data gathering and reporting will

begin afterwards with the first report released at the end of 2018. Our partners in the media

will be used to amplify and commend responsive DISCOs and also create a list of non-

responders.

The platform will serve as an intervention to aggregate consumer issues/complaints,

transfer to the relevant DISCO (back-end plugin to the DISCOs customer care), track its

resolution with DISCOs and customer, in cases of prolonged response have a way to follow

up after a set time and finally aggregate complaints and responses of all DISCOs to serve as

a rating index for their performance over a period (quarterly / bi - annually). This will create a

competitive spirit among the Disc

The Active Consumer of Electricity platform project will provide marginalized communities

the opportunity to get solutions to issues that affect their community by bringing it to the

attention of relevant authorities. Due to the nature of the platform, it would be self-driven.

Also, the engagement of media platforms (traditional and new) would be used for active

and consistent citizen engagement.

Social Media Engagement

The fast-paced nature of spreading the information via the social media will also be

leveraged. Partners, vibrant activists and Ambassadors accounts will be used in sharing

information on the platform. Also, discussions and success stories will be amplified for

citizens and communities that have used the platform to their benefit. This will be in the

form of promoted posts, tweet meets, e.t.c in a bid to raise social awareness and encourage

citizens to engage the stakeholders more actively.

Expected Outcomes

1. Empower electricity consumers and communities on their rights and obligations

regarding power issues.

2. Champion and advocate consumers only pay for electricity they consume – reduce

estimated billing to the barest minimum and faster delivery of meters to electricity

consumers nationwide.

3. Build and nurture local communities of active consumers who understand their rights

and responsibilities and choose demand for better service delivery from DISCOs.

4. Bridge the gap between the Ministry of Power, DISCOs, NERC and Consumers.

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5. To build a platform through which active consumers can resolve disputes while rating

performance of DISCOs over a period through an index based on time taken to resolve

disputes (T) and number of complaints (N) resolved satisfactorily.

6. Provide a medium for the convergence of thoughts from the best techies who are

passionate about social change.

7. The Active Consumer of Electricity platform will provide marginalized communities

the opportunity to get solutions to issues that affect their community by bringing it to the

attention of relevant authorities.

Budget

The total budget for this proposal is USD 96,500 (See Appendix)

Duration

The project is expected to last for a period of 12 months.

EiE’s Previous Experience in Delivering Similar Projects

Prior to the 2011 elections, EiE Nigeria developed ReVoDa, a mobile app that turns

citizens into election observers. It’s a simple app that connects your voter ID number

to your phone number so every report sent is automatically geo-mapped. It was the

first election reporting app of its kind in the world. We know it was adapted in Ghana

and helped in the design of other variations in other countries.

In 2014 in collaboration with mysociety (a UK-based organization that builds

technology platforms to improve citizen engagement) EiE built the Shine Your Eye

(SYE) platform (www.shineyoureye.org) which is one of the tools we use to enable

citizens hold their elected officials accountable.

We have been engaging citizens through our ‘Office of the Citizen’ campaign via

several channels. Part of our focus has been demystifying the Nigeria electricity

industry and most importantly helping citizens get solution to issues they have with

electricity distribution companies (DISCOs). You can read a summary of some of our

radio engagement via these storify links:

1. The New Electricity Tariff Regime – What does it mean to you? 2. The New Electricity Tariff Regime – What does it mean to you? Part 2 3. The February Black Out 4. The Electricity Bill Protest

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“Of all the institutions of a democratic society, there's none as formidable as

an awakened and conscious citizenry.” - Shehu Sani

In July 2016, EiE hosted a town hall meeting focused on Ikeja Electric Distribution

Company (IKEDC) and transferring the success story of the Araromi Mende Residents

Consumer Protection Advocates in demanding better services from IKEDC. The aim

was to have communities come together and act as active citizens.

Between April and July 2016, EiE successfully worked with the Araromi Mende

Residents Consumer Protection Advocates (a community in Lagos) in engaging Ikeja

Distribution Company (IKEDC) to resolve their community issues.

Between October 2016 and January 2017, EiE also partnered with Channels TV and

Daria media in hosting 3 live - audience town hall meetings on Electricity Metering,

Nigeria’s Power Grid and Renewables bringing together thought leaders in the Power

sector including the Minister of Power Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) in charting the

way forward and empowering citizens with facts around the power issues in Nigeria.

Find links below:

1. The Crux Episode 1 – Electricity Metering

2. The Crux Episode 2 – Nigeria’s Power Grid

3. The Crux Episode 3 – Off-grid & Renewables

EiE has been publishing info graphs and education materials for consumer education

on electricity matters. (See Appendix)

About EiE

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Appendix

Budget Summary

Activity Unit Cost Per Unit (USD)

Total (USD)

Sub – National town hall meetings 9 2,000 18,000

Hackathon 1 10,000 10,000

Project monitoring (travels, salaries, other direct costs – ODCs), platform deployment and operation

12 18,000 18,000

Nationwide Media Awareness Campaign – Radio (airtime, jingles, adverts, talk shows) Television (airtime, adverts, talk shows), Newspaper (adverts, articles and write ups), Social Media (Promoted posts)

4 6,000 24,000

Media and publicity – Consultancy and Management 4 5,000 20,000

Technical / Research Consultancy - state of the power industry

1 6,500 6,500

TOTAL 96,500

*Exchange rate used – NGN450 to USD1.00

Proposed Partners and Focus Areas

1. EiE Nigeria: Project Monitoring and platform operation

2. BudgIT: Data mining for IEC materials and Info graphs

3. SBM Intel / Power Up NG: Technical / Research Consultancy

4. Black House Media / Red Media: Media and Publicity

5. CcHub: Hackathon

Contact

‘Yemi Adamolekun

Executive Director, EiE Nigeria

yemi@eienigeria.org

+2348082192510│www.eie.ng

Published Infographics

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