A former lawmaker and politician Senator Shehu Sani has said the decision by the Nigerian government to cut electricity supply to Niger Republic could come with dire consequences that would hurt the country in the long run.
Nigeria cut power supply to the Niger Republic on Wednesday as part of the sanction by the Economic Community of West African States against the military junta in the country.
On Sunday, ECOWAS, led by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, decided on sanctions against the military personnel in Niger who toppled President-elect Mohamed Bazoum’last week.
On July 26, officers of the Presidential Guard arrested Bazoum and declared him deposed.
In addition to a one-week ultimatum to restore constitutional order and the suspension of financial transactions with Niger, ECOWAS decreed the freezing of “all service transactions, including energy transactions.”
AFP reported on Wednesday that Nigeria had cut its electricity supply to Niger.
The international medium quoted a source close to the management of the Nigerien Electricity Company, popularly known as Nigelec, adding that the move was in line with the sanctions decided by ECOWAS.
However, industry experts called for caution and advised that the Federal Government should be diplomatic in handling the matter, as NIGELEC was under contract with a power firm in Nigeria, Mainstream Energy, for the supply of electricity.
Nigeria exports electricity to the Republics of Benin and Niger based on various Transaction Service Agreements.
Reports have suggested that Nigeria exported about N23.13bn worth of electricity to some neighbouring countries in 2022.
The report confirmed that Nigeria exported electricity to Transcorp-SBEE and Mainstream-NIGELEC.
SBEE is Société Beninoise d’Énergie Electrique, a Benin Republic power firm, while NIGELEC, which is Société Nigérienne d’Electricité or Nigerien Electricity Society, is a power utility firm in Niger Republic.
“Nigeria disconnected since yesterday (Tuesday) the high voltage line that carries electricity to Niger,” AFP quoted its source.
It stated that a NIGELEC agent, on his part, indicated that the capital, Niamey, was “supplied, thanks to local production.”
According to a report by NIGELEC, the neighbouring country’s sole supplier, in 2022, 70 per cent of Niger’s share of electricity came from purchases from the Nigerian company – Mainstream.
Electricity is produced by the Kainji Dam located in Nigeria.
However, to free itself from its strong energy dependence on neighbouring Nigeria, Niger is working to complete its first dam by 2025. Some 180km upstream from Niamey, the Kandadji dam should generate 629 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.
Meranwhile, Sani said Nigeria could suffer for the action in the long run if Niger Republic decides to build dam around Kanji Dam.
He tweeted that, The reported Nigerian alleged tempering with electricity supply to Niger Republic is wrong. We must not use power supplies as a means of political blackmail. It
will not change anything. If Niger decides to build their power station across their part of the River Niger,our Kainji Dam will be rendered useless.
“President Tinubu and Ecowas leaders should allow the People of Niger to decide on how they want their country to be governed.Don’t be instigated by France to go to war that we don’t need. When we had military regime,we fought to free ourselves; let them make their decisions.”
