.
“When people say Germany is exporting power, your country is exporting power too. To Niger, to the Republic of Benin, to Togo and we are selling gas to the West African region. Stop putting yourself down, we are a great country. We have challenges let us go and deal with them,” ~ Babatunde Fashola
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing reportedly made this statement while answering questions at a workshop on the power sector recovery programme (PSRP).
I don’t know about you but I’m certain that if you replace Fashola’s name on the above quote with that of Basket Mouth or Ali Baba the words will make better meaning for what they should be..comedy!
For over two weeks before I left Nigeria much of Awka South LGA was in total darkness, we didn’t see a flicker of light. Today the story is very much the same my mum tells me. That is about one full month without electricity.
The same was the case last Easter, for over a month Awka metropolis had no power supply, and it only serves to infuriate us the more that Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) often has a lousy explanation for these failures.
In March 2016 it was widely reported that Fashola had resolved the protracted dispute between Geometric Power Limited and EEDC over power supply to Aba. We all rejoiced and hoped for an improved supply that will resuscitate the industrial city which was once labelled Taiwan of Africa for its giant strides in manufacturing. Last September, following a short clip by Professor Barth Nnaji, yours truly enthusiastically published here that Geometric energy will more than quadruple Aba power supply in five months. Well, I still soak my chaplet in water praying daily for that promise to come to fruition because the GREAT Enyimba city is close to my heart (and yes I said GREAT because Aba is a city of people with the kind of unity that is lacking in Nigeria).
Fashola is a performer whom I still hold in very high regard and I believe many Nigerians do too. Some are beginning to doubt his capacity, however. In the run-up to the last general elections, he was sensationally reported in the media to have claimed that Lagosians can have stable power supply in six months! Those of us who read beyond the caption know it was what Trump now famously call fake news. He did make the claim but with a caveat. His words:
“Let the EKO DISCOs sign a contract with me, giving part of their concessions to the state government. In about six to eight months, there will be power in all homes in Lagos State”
But whether or not our DISCOs are willing to give part of their concessions to the government is not what Nigerians want to hear.
We just need light!
We all agree that Nigeria is facing a myriad of problems and we should come together to tackle them but we shouldn’t be deceived into believing that greatness bollocks. The situation is so bad that the average Nigerian is now familiar with technical words such as megawatts, metric tonnes etc. Terminologies that will sound strange to many in civilised climes.
So those who have the Honourable Minister’s ears should tell him to quit acting comedy with what is perhaps the most troubling issue in the country today. He needs to appreciate the fact that the average Nigerian is becoming more and more exasperated with the increasing darkness even as billions of dollars have been spent on the energy sector in recent years.
Last December I bought a new generator and MTN Lumos to reduce the amount of money I spend on fueling the generator all because I couldn’t trust EEDC to provide regular supply during the festivities. Where is the greatness in that?
2nd base jare!
