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Before delving into the theme of this article, it is necessary to state that the greatness of a nation is a reflection of the quality of leadership and citizenship. When one sees a nation whose leaders abandon education, healthcare and ignore other important things that they should take seriously because of politics, all you simply get is complete chaos.
In times like these we need effective leaders. We equally need encouragers, because most Nigerians are tired of being frustrated on a daily basis as a result of poor governance.
When we looked at the poverty clock, we observed that Nigeria is still the poverty capital of the world. We thought things would improve as we go to the polls every four years to elect those who have volunteered to lead us. At the end of election, what we usually get is disappointment in the past 23 years.
In times like these we need effective leaders. We equally need encouragers, because most Nigerians are tired of being frustrated on a daily basis as a result of poor governance
There is news making headlines that Nigeria’s oil production has gone down. Our foreign exchange reserve is dwindling gradually as inflation keeps rising. It has been reported officially that Nigeria’s inflation has reached 17.71 percent (year-on-year) as food inflation rises by 19.5 percent.
A reputable financial institution in the country has predicted that inflation may get to 20 percent by December 2022. As a consumer, it is my hope that rising prices of commodities will not worsen the painful hunger experienced currently by millions of indigent citizens in the country.
In times like these, we need leaders that can be trusted and we need committed leaders to come to our rescue. In selecting our leaders, competence matters, not religion or tribe. In times like these, religion or tribe will not buy bread cheaper in the market. Neither can anyone go to the market with religion or tribe to buy rice. You need strong purchasing power. Rising inflation has decreased the purchasing power of Nigerians.
I learnt that inflation is the worst enemy of purchasing power. The naira has been devalued on many occasions. So, how did we get here? Leadership ineffectiveness? How are we going to get genuine political leaders who are effective? It is to look for those political leaders who love the country, the people irrespective of tribe or religion, and make a sincere effort to advance the whole country. Our political leaders will emerge from the citizens of this country. Please, permit me to step aside here.
Why did the country witnessed widespread blackout on Sunday, June 12, 2022? I was in Abuja sometime last week for a meeting. There was no electricity supply, no petrol, and no diesel in that part of the country. Life was very tough. Some would say that the national grid collapsed due to sabotage.
Well, I do not really know what was responsible for the national grid collapse in question. All I know is that some newspapers reported that data sourced from a relevant agency indicated that peak generation was 3703 megawatts in the early morning of June 12, 2022, but this crashed to 9 megawatts in the evening.
Even to a layman something was wrong when the power generated crashed to 9 megawatts. I made phone calls to my family and a few friends in Lagos. They confirmed there was no electricity supply on that same day till the next day. The next day, we planned to hold the meeting at a relation’s office who told me he had light. I thought something was not right. When we got to the office, a generator was running – a diesel generator to be precise.
We ran the noisy old diesel 40KVA generator for many hours until it ran no more. The generator stopped working because the electricity came like a thief in the middle of the night. It was for a brief moment – one hour only.
We heard the noise of children in the neighborhood as they shouted repeatedly in a sing song tone: “Up NEPA, thank God!” But as we continued with the meeting, the electricity supply was off without early warning. When we went out to restart the generator, it did not start. The indicator panel displayed “check engine oil.”
The display reminded the owner that the generator was due for maintenance. The generator needed maintenance as soon as possible to avoid serious damage because the engine oil pressure has dropped to a low level, which was dangerous. The generator was switched off for maintenance after continuously working for one week. Why? The power supply was epileptic! While the price of diesel has increased to N800/litre.
Those who observed the frequency at which national grid collapsed in the power sector confirmed that Nigeria’s national grid had collapsed twice in March and twice in April this year. The national grid collapse on 12 June, 2022 was the fifth.
Power generation distributed to the national grid has been collapsing due to many problems. Some of the problems we learnt include gas constraints, water management challenges, gas pipeline vandalism, market settlement issues, tariff and market shortfall, near-zero regulatory ecosystem, and grid infrastructural limitations among other reasons.
Due to instability in Nigeria’s power supply, some consumers expressed their displeasures. They were of the view that politicians should stop generating electricity on the pages of newspapers and social media.
When a politician in the government tells you that: “I will increase power generation from 5000 megawatts to 30,000 megawatts,” the electorate should be bold enough to ask the politician how he or she intends to do it? It is a question worth asking because megawatt is not a tangible asset that is available for purchase in any political party headquarters.
A megawatt is a unit for measuring power which, in the case of electricity, has to be generated by power plants, not mere speeches eloquently delivered. We have equally been told by official sources that Nigeria has a power generating capacity of 7,500 megawatts, but only an average of 3,600 megawatts get to the grid for distribution to the end users.
Anyway, as we tried to check the engine oil, fortunately we read in the newspapers that Nigeria’s major hydropower plants in Kainji and Jebba were producing about 130 megawatts of electricity to the grid out of a total installed capacity of about 1,300 megawatts.
The entire power network has to be reviewed holistically from a technical standpoint and not from a political stance. It is my humble view that engineering problems cannot be solved with political expressions. The government at state and federal levels must invest in building more substations as well as generation and distribution plants based on technical feasibility not political considerations.
It was political consideration that made the nation to build power plants in areas where no gas was available thus, necessitating the construction of pipelines which have been vandalised.
Since we are in the political season where our powerful politicians promise heaven on earth, presidential candidates should be able to speak straight to all issues affecting the citizens.
We cannot continue like this. We do not want our politicians to be paper tigers – everything they want to do is only on the front pages of newspapers. When it comes to taking actions, our powerful politicians display inwardly weak disposition without doing anything. And when something is done, it is not seen to a logical conclusion.
So, this time around will the economic agendas of our presidential flag bearers have any impact on voters’ decisions? This question is very relevant because a sufficient and constant supply of electricity is very necessary for any modern economy starting with the production sector, followed by the service sector all the way down to private households.
The sad reality is that it is even more frustrating for those who rely on solar energy as backup. Why? The cost of batteries and inverters including solar panels have gone up because of the exchange rate.
Read also: 10 Nigerian banks using solar to reduce reliance on diesel generators
One US dollar is now exchanged for 609 Naira in the parallel market at the time of writing this article. All components of any solar system less cables are imported. We learnt that the Federal Government and 10 states are currently working to produce 2000 megawatts of off-grid electricity through solar energy sources.
But consumers are not satisfied with incessant electricity supply. With harsh business environment we want to have a steady and reliable power supply. And until the power supply situation improves, this appears to be a reasonable but difficult demand.
Since 2015, we knew that all was not well with the power sector reform in Nigeria and this provoked an article titled “Caught in a Trap” which was presented in this column. It was because of the poorly done privatization of the power sector at that time.
In the article, I expressed concern about the power sector reform. It was stated that at this stage of our national life, one needs to have a proper understanding of various governments’ decisions and accept that the nation requires a fundamental restructuring in order to accelerate economic growth and development so that life could be meaningful to Nigerians.
Is it not possible to rejig the entire power sector for effectiveness? We need to have a power sector that works so that industries can thrive. When industries thrive, unemployment figures will drop. In times like these, we need to wake up from our slumber. Thank you.
