It is a pristine paradox that darkness can sometimes kindle light and light, darkness, just as easily as one gives and makes way for the other in Nigeria.
Since 1999, nothing has defined or darkened Nigeria’s development challenges like its perennial power failure. In twenty-five years of blistering, eventful democracy, even Nigerians still entombed in the incomparable tomb of the womb have come to know, first, the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), its successor, the PHCN, its affiliates, and their connection to epileptic power supply.
While colossal corruption has convulsed every part of Nigeria for many years now, it is perhaps the power sector that has proven the single most effective conduit for siphoning public funds. A clear example from the earliest days of Nigeria’s democracy would suffice. As president, Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly sunk some sixteen billion USD into the power sector with nothing to show for it. Most of the funds apparently ended up in private pockets in what will go down as one of the biggest financial crimes committed against the country. Predictably and unsurprisingly, no one has yet been held to account.
Stuttering under the weight of public greed, the national grid has continued to collapse. In the past ten years, the grid has collapsed about 105 times. This year alone, it has collapsed more than five times, plunging Nigerians into darkness and despair each time. Each collapse has caught the country off guard, with the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN) fresh out of ideas, but high on confusion and conspiracy theories, struggling to give coherent explanations or respond to the challenge on time.
The dithering from TCN which is under the Federal Government has provided fodder for the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) which has now alleged that the blackout in the region which has lasted for over a week now is a grand conspiracy to destroy there
Clearly, it is unacceptable that Nigeria’s largest and most populous region should be left without power for this long. When one considers that apart from its staggering agricultural endeavors, the region is a thriving industrial hub, the blackout becomes criminal owing to the incalculable losses residents are incurring.
At a time when families and businesses are groaning under a hostile business climate, the blackout is like a bludgeon to the heart of the region.
The North may have lurched from one disappointment to another under a government in which they are firmly holding down the number two positions, but whether there is any truth to the allegation of a conspiracy or not, the fact is that power must be immediately restored to the region and even improved up.
Going further, concrete steps must be taken to protect electricity infrastructure in the region from the inimical activities of non-state actors who swarm the region. The many thriving ventures in the North need power to string together an economy battered by terrorism in the last decade.
It is rather unfortunate that a region already itching from being without political power which is like the air it breathes also has to experience power outage for days now. The toll on economic activities must be immeasurable. But rather than sulk, whip up conspiracy theories and point to the situation as another example of why political power must return to the North soon, the CNG should encourage the region to reflect on its contributions to the current state of Nigeria and the role it can play going forward to restore Nigeria to its former glory.
Ike Willie–Nwobu,
