Power supply: amidst talks and reality
The germane nature of this sector made previous administrations to inaugurate, for instance, the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) initiated by the erstwhile government of General Obasanjo which was a step in the right direction. Late Yar’ adua’s administration designated power as priority number one on the administration’s Seven-Point agenda. As it is, the question […]
The germane nature of this sector made previous administrations to inaugurate, for instance, the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) initiated by the erstwhile government of General Obasanjo which was a step in the right direction. Late Yar’ adua’s administration designated power as priority number one on the administration’s Seven-Point agenda. As it is, the question on the lips of many is, if this kind of priority is being put into power, why the incessant outages?
The challenge posed by the erratic and epileptic nature of power supply to both the national economy and the average Nigerian cannot be overemphasized. The last decade has witnessed fatal power retrogression from what was obtainable. The reasons for this are not far-fetched as the apparent reasons are ubiquitous: population growth, moribund power installations and infrastructures, lack of adequate, workable plan and above all – corruption that has festered in the power sector to a pitiable point.
Today, irrespective of the size of the generator, almost every home has one. At least the Chinese Tiger “I pass my neighbour”, that is sold between N10-12, 000.00. This is despite the health hazard associated with the use of these machines in most of our poorly ventilated homes. The clusters of generators in some buildings blasting away incessantly with the smoke rending the air are the common phenomenon of the failure of the power sector.
At this point, some Nigerian have resigned to fate believing that it is their greatest misfortune to be born Nigerian. One wonders why the power issue has been politicized and made nonsense of to the point that everything looks so dismal and bleak. Does it mean the successive governments have failed to do something about an issue this germane to both the economic development of the nation, the social stability and the well being of the people? These questions are begging for answers. Despite the billions of dollars earmarked for this project by past administrations, the situation has been going from bad to worse with industries in their droves folding up while some are relocating to neighbouring countries for purpose of production. It is in indeed worrisome.
The past military administrations have been blamed enough for failing in governance and plunging the country into an unwholesome, state of affairs. But it has been a while now since the advent of democracy, which is already over a decade old. So, living in the past and blaming everything on the error and mistakes of past leaders has still not been able to chart the way forward for the country, especially on the issue of power. It is necessary to ask, where are all the billions voted for power?
As much as this piece is not poised to supply answers to that particular question, there is need to open a discourse for all to proffer solutions to this menace. This will to generate meaningful contribution that will make way for a laudable power reform. The experience of countries that had at some point been in this kind of power debacle would need to be researched into. The reform ought to receive all attention. Chile was faced with a similar dilemma, in spite of their diminutive size compared to Nigeria’s but they got it right eventually. India with a larger population had power reforms that got the attention of the whole country and with time led to their success story.
Imohiosen writes from [email protected]