10 things you can do for Nigeria, today (1)

I was surprised that the list could be this long, in view of the hopelessness being bandied about.  Most people would rather focus on how some people in Abuja are ‘eating our money’, and how things will never improve until they stop, or until we kill them all, or until we ‘scatter and go our […]

I was surprised that the list could be this long, in view of the hopelessness being bandied about.  Most people would rather focus on how some people in Abuja are ‘eating our money’, and how things will never improve until they stop, or until we kill them all, or until we ‘scatter and go our different ways’.  I realised though that there is no amount of money that can be stolen from us, that would justify the sacrifice, again, of several million Nigerians on the altar of war.  Those who propose the ‘Rawlings option’, are often themselves potential victims and targets when the pogrom begins, and they should remember that very often, different interest will allege that the ‘operation’ is skewed to their disadvantage.  And that those who start revolutions, as is recorded in the Bolshevik and French ones, are often consumed by them.

More so, in an ‘Information Age’ as we are today, the Rawlings option – involving the killing of those regarded as ‘corrupt big men’, will hit the internet in a big way, portraying us as barbarians for engaging in extra-judicial killings.  The same people who propose ‘Rawlings option’, turn around and express dismay at the extrajudicial Boko Haram and Jos riot killings that is presently available on youtube.com.  Lastly, such an option will be an avenue for settling scores; an invitation to unbridled anarchy in the land, so let’s focus on building rather than destroying…

Number one.  Go out there today and buy some energy saving bulbs for your house.  I am surprised these days when very articulate people still mention energy as our greatest problem in Nigeria.   We should begin to think outside the box.  When I went to Ghana two years ago, I realised every bulb there was an energy-saver.  But here in Nigeria, we complain about government’s inability to generate more than 2,500 megawatts, while we are also busy wasting whatever is generated, with energy-sapping appliances.  Energy-saving bulbs are a bit expensive, but they pay off in the medium to long term, by reducing your energy bill.  If you are a business-minded person, import some. The more imports, the lesser the price.  But please, don’t import fake ones and disillusion our people. Also for those who are slightly buoyant, install inverters at home or in the office.  They really work, and if nothing else, they will reduce the noise pollution caused by power generators, and eradicate diesel/petrol cost.  This technology is getting better by the day.

Two.  Reduce your carbon footprint.  This ties in with the suggestion about inverters and the reduction of noise pollution.  The whole world has since been talking about carbon footprint, but here in Nigeria, we seem unconcerned or it doesn’t make sense to us.  Those who know are aware that the problems of the world and our environment are a culmination of our individual actions or inactions.  To reduce carbon footprint, you have to use less water, less energy, generate less waste –especially the types that do not decompose naturally eg nylon, and generally care for the environment.  Nigerians have one terrible attitude of throwing trash out of their moving cars.  This is just barbaric.  In societies tending towards civilisation, you keep your waste in your car and empty such properly when you get home.  ‘Corporate’ people should also educate their wards and workers on the disadvantage of using just anywhere as their toilets or living in dirty environments.  It is in everyone’s interest.  You don’t want your driver to wallow in filth and infect your children with Tuberculosis on the way to school, do you?

This aspect is particularly worrisome to me.  It would seem that we as a people have not quite got the hang of healthy living.  And we have now evolved into a dichotomy of ultra-modern, ultra-sophisticated but few people living or working in VI, VGC, Ikoyi, Maitama and co, versus the ultra-poor, ultra-filthy, living in poor areas. I have visited shopping plazas where people urinate on the stairwells. Offices and homes in many parts of Nigeria take delight in their filthy walls and surroundings.  It wouldn’t cost much to improve on this. All that the ‘civilised’ world has ever done is to maintain what they have.  We must begin to take care.  They say the difference between success and failure is in the details.  We must pay attention to details. Those of us who understand the health/hygiene implication of this issue must actively recruit others.   The noise pollution in some of our cities means we have many undiagnosed psycho patients marauding about, and possibly seeking for political appointments.  Any wonder the results we often get with our government?

Third.  For those that can, we should as a matter of urgency, begin to advocate for green energy.  This may seem far-fetched but it isn’t.  It is a huge shame that in spite of the fact that God has blessed us with so much of solar energy all year round, we seem not to know what to do with it.  What are our engineers and physicists doing? Why can they not seize the profit incentives embedded in research in that area and do something new?  How come we are still so fixated on NEPA and hydroelectric power when the world has moved on?  Japan has been powering cities on solar for so long,; even Ethiopia (story for another day).  To make matters worse in Nigeria, one of the biggest problems we have with energy is the fact that there is no notable increase in production and tangible investment in that sector, while the population, and concomitant housing, keeps growing.  Naturally population and housing growth will put tremendous pressure on available electricity capability.

All the fantastic new estates coming up are programmed to tap into the national grid.  How so greedy, pardon the rhyme.  How can developers set out to build high-end, luxury abodes (for we love luxury in this country), only to put the burden on the country after they may have collected hundreds of millions of Naira from buyers?  If you have the influence, let us put government under pressure, that any new, even old estate development should set out with solar panels worth about N1.5million, as part of the approved prototype.  This should be priced into the houses.  If this is done, we would be setting a pace in this country and would be the better for it.