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The development of a country is to a large extent dependent on the optimal development and utilization of its energy resources and the provision of energy services in a reliable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner. Recognizing the importance of energy to national development, Past and present governments have been struggling with establishing the most optimal administrative infrastructure both soft and hard to execute and implement policies to achieve such an energy vision. The Energy Sector since its formal establishment has come up with a number of policies to promote the sector as well as addressing the challenges. These include the Power Sector Reform in the 1990s to help attract private investment into the power subsector value chain; the 2001 Energy Policy which focused on poverty alleviation and economic growth; and the 2010 Energy Policy necessitated largely by the discovery of oil in substantial commercial quantities in 2007 and which provided the initial framework for the development and utilization of indigenous oil and gas resources in the country. There have been significant changes in the national and global energy landscape. The country had also undergone years of frequent power outages and planned power rationing across the country in the past, and the severest and longest occurred from 2013-2015, leading to reduced workforce productivity, unreliable supply of electricity, relatively high electricity tariff compared to the last decade culminating in the high cost of doing business, etc. These have compelled recent and present governments to come up with restructuring of the sector on a number of occasions. The presentation is a discourse on the entire Energy Sector and the challenges since the immediate colonial era to what prevails today. It will also touch on the potential opportunities for the country and job prospects in the sector. |
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