Want 24-hour electricity? Here’s how one northern governor did it

Daily Trust published a curious report on April 11, 2016, about electricity supply in Kebbi State. The story excited me so much that I didn’t wait for my friend who was using my bathroom to come out before I went to him and shouted: “Did you know that Birnin Kebbi enjoys almost 24-hour electricity?” “No. […]

Daily Trust published a curious report on April 11, 2016, about electricity supply in Kebbi State. The story excited me so much that I didn’t wait for my friend who was using my bathroom to come out before I went to him and shouted: “Did you know that Birnin Kebbi enjoys almost 24-hour electricity?”
“No. Impossible.” He replied.
Here’s a problem that we think would take years and complex arrangements to solve, and here is a government which has already solved it.
Later when I went to the office to meet a Ph.D. student who was waiting for me, before discussing his research, I asked him: “Did you know there’s a place in Nigeria which enjoys near constant electricity?”
“In Nigeria, a state in Nigeria?”  He queried.
Yes!
First, talk to the people from Kebbi State, I cautioned myself. So I asked Malam Rilwan Hussain Abarshi, my oga from Yauri in Kebbi State. “I’m not sure about that [24-hour electricity],” he said.  “But the last time I was there, it wasn’t too bad, honestly.”
Not satisfied, I spoke with another person from Kebbi – a senator’s wife. Who also confirmed the availability of electricity even though she had always been critical of the APC government whenever we discussed. And some youth corps members serving in the state commented when I shared the post on Facebook that everything in their refrigerator had turned to ice!
And the strategy Governor Atiku Bagudu deployed in solving the problem of lack of electricity was ridiculously simple.
The report headlined: “Steady power supply puts generator dealers out of business in Kebbi,” quoted one of the residents of the state, Victor Emmanuel, who works with All States’ Aluminium Company, as saying that although there are still power cuts, those only last minutes – not hours like in all the other states in Nigeria.
“We are enjoying electricity in Birnin Kebbi,” Emammuel told Daily Trust.
“Even though they sometimes take the light, it is just for some minutes. What we are witnessing now is different from how it was before this government came in. During the previous administration, electricity was rationed. They would give us for five hours only, and then give to other areas of the town for another five hours. Sometimes it might not even come at all, leaving our businesses to suffer. But today it is different. I must say, we are doing well now with steady power supply and we must thank the government for it.”
Abdulrasak, a generator seller, agreed with Emmanuel. “Since they fixed the electricity issue, people no longer buy generators, and this has affected our business. I remember we made much sales and a lot of profit before this government took over,” he said
How did Governor Atiku Bagudu do it?
Apparently, when Bagudu became governor, he asked officials of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (which supplies Kebbi State) if it was possible to have 24-hour electricity for his people.  “We told him it was possible with support of the state government,” an official of the company told Daily Trust.  “He bought over 200 transformers and other important electricity facilities that would make it possible for us to supply regular electricity to Birnin Kebbi and the 21 local government areas of the state,” he said.
Bashir Yusuf, a station manager of the distribution company, concurred. “In Birnin Kebbi alone, we have four power control stations,” he said.  “…what is largely responsible for stable electricity supply in Birnin Kebbi,” he continued, “is the availability of necessary electricity facilities like transformers, injection stations and others.”
One of the residents, Wasiu Salaudeen, who is a barber, mentioned that he couldn’t remember the last time he turned on his generator. “I tell you the change we are expecting has finally come,” he said.
There you have it.
The electricity challenge is not rocket surgery. It can be fixed right now, because someone has already done it.  Other governors should please copy and paste.
Some may differ about the meaning of this availability of electricity in Kebbi State.  Actually, some individuals have said that the story was incomplete.  There must be another reason yet to come to light, they said.  There is a friend who also told me that Kebbi State is a rural state, therefore, the demand for electricity is very low.
Although I concede that you cannot compare Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, with cities such as Kano, Lagos, Port Hacourt or Kaduna, I still maintain that this is a simple worthy example for other leaders to copy.  And the fact we require our solutions to be complex, sophisticated and grand, may be the reason why we’ve not solved any of our problems for more than three decades.  The era of seeking grand solutions to problems has run its course.  All over the world, in every sector, from engineering to social science to developmental economics, experts are looking for simple answers to difficult questions.  Therefore, when offered one, we should take it.
As for those who think Kebbi is a small state, I have one question for them: How many big cities do we have in Nigeria?  The average town in Nigeria is not much different from Birnin Kebbi.  Therefore, if it works there, it should work for our small towns.  Of course generation must be increased, because if every town replaces its obsolete infrastructure with new ones, the generation would not be enough to go round.
Yet, we thank Governor Bagudu for setting this example. We are also grateful to Daily Trust for bringing us this good news and we appreciate the journalism of Ismail Adebayo, who filed the report for the paper.
The last part of the series, ‘Why rats lick their babies,’ will be concluded next week, God willing.