The noise is deafening out here! As I am typing this, there are over five generating sets of all shapes and sizes, not to mention brands or quality are humming noisily everywhere around me. Welcome to Nigeria! A country where the powers that be, have failed woefully to fix a problem bedeviling our economy for two decades. We cannot start to talk of the health risks associated with the fumes thrown out by these inferior generating sets.
The fact is that the nation’s power providers have failed us. Whether you call them NEPA or PHCN, they are just acronyms we have come to associate with great failures. Go around the country and you will see that these so called power providers are daily setting records on inefficiency! Nobody can surpass this level of disservice to paying customers anywhere in the world. NEPA has set a record in bad service delivery which will be difficult to erase.
Passing blames to NEPA officials, staff and even the previous administrations will be a waste of time. Some has even gone ahead to blame the general public for abuses like wrongful connection of light, illegal connections and failure to pay light bills while enjoying light. All those shifting blames will be wrong at this stage as many young men and women are unemployed because they cannot unleash their potentials. A young welder that has a workshop will be idle as soon as lights go off, so also a young woman fashion designer or hairdresser.
If I were to rule this nation for one year, there will be light in this country as much as we want. I will do the unthinkable, break some barriers and ruffle a lot of feathers. I will step on some big toes and when things improve, will say sorry. Here is what I will do.
I will go on air one day and announce a state of emergency in the power sector. I will request that the nation understand the situation and make some sacrifice to enable us clear this shame. I will announce that henceforth, all lights in this country should be switched off at once. All NEPA or PHCN staff are to stand down, all ‘removed’ from their positions. Note that I said all staff, senior or junior. All power installations are to be sold for scrap.
Stage two; new offer will be made to independent power providers to come in and bid to handle power generation, distribution and maintenance. I will like them to be handling local government after local government or states. Just like the telecoms sector, government will only play a part in monitoring and regulating all activities in the power sector.
I know what I just suggested are extreme measures, but we have suffered extreme punishment and embarrassment as a nation.
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