Hodderway Books is the author of ‘Crazy Billionaires Speak’ available on Amazon.com.
The cost of darkness is infinite.
The real reason Nigeria’s electricity situation might never improve is simple: Every year, Nigerians spend over $13billion purchasing fuels to power their generators to provide themselves with electricity. This enormous amount of money eventually finds its way into the pockets of big-time Nigerian oil magnates who you are very familiar with- Femi Otedola, Sayyu Dantata, Mike Adenuga, and the rest of the other billionaire oil tycoons in Nigeria. These moneybags know that if Nigeria’s eclectic power situation is ever resolved, and Nigerians get access to stable electricity, they’ll lose a huge chunk of their consistent source of income. And so, for their selfish reasons, they’ve held Nigerians to ransom. They have succeeded in persuading successive Nigerian governments over the years not to solve Nigeria’s power problem so that Nigerians continue being dependent on fuel to power their generators. The more Nigerians purchase fuel to power their generators, the wealthier these unscrupulous tycoons become. Basically, our pain is their gain.
Nigeria’s electricity situation is annoying, irritating, frustrating and heartbreaking, to say the least. After 50 years of independence, Nigerians cannot lay claim to having access to reliable, steady power supply. In Nigeria, it is usually a miracle if we manage to have electricity for a total of four hours within a 24-hour day. It is horrible. Industries are folding up because of an inability to keep up with rising costs of diesel and fuel to power generators. This chronic lack of electricity affects the poor and middle-class individuals more than anyone else.
Nigerians have for all these years tolerated eclectic and unreliable power supply. We’ve received countless promises of improved power over the years by our leaders. The former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo earmarked billions of naira for nonexistent Power projects only to squander the money, while Nigerians continually live in darkness. Now Goodluck Jonathan, in a desperate bid to come back as President in 2011, has announced his so-called Power sector reforms. He has announced ambitious plans to privatize the power sector when he is re-elected into power in 2011. Why won’t he do it now? The reason he is postponing it till then is so that Nigerians will be fooled into bringing him into power in 2011. If he comes back to power in the next general elections, the whole privatization exercise will not happen again. That I can promise.
If truths be told, Goodluck Jonathan is only making lip-service. Nothing is going to change if he comes back to power in 2011. As the whole world knows, Goodluck is Obasanjo’s puppet. As a matter of fact, Obasanjo is still ruling the affairs of this country through Goodluck Jonathan. Obasanjo still has loyalties to his ‘boys’ who were loyal to him during his 8-year civilian rule. Those ‘boys’ of his are the biggest oil magnates in the country- those who stand to lose a fortune if Nigeria’s power crisis is resolved for good. Do you really think they are going to sit down and let that happen?
And so, as long as Goodluck Jonathan is elected president of the Federal republic of Nigeria, Nigerians should expect continued blackouts. Nothing will change, except we vote for a man who has the complete interest of Nigerians at heart- Muhammad Buhari!
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