Whenever we (Nigerians) are asked to talk about the situation of power supply in the country, the epistle is always long and endless because it is so painful that electricity, a major source of development in a nation, is what is lacking so greatly. At this juncture, we do not even want it for development; we just want it to power our gadgets at home, most especially for charging our rechargeable gadgets, but that seems very far from us.
The electricity situation in my country is so bad that one cannot even think of buying a freezer to store food while depending solely on public power supply. It is impossible. The only way one can use a freezer to store food is when the person has a personal source of power. Yes, that is how bad it is.
It is so bad that one cannot open a business that requires electricity to run and totally depend on public power supply, no way. The business cannot move forward because it will be begging to get electricity. It won't even operate a full week. Impossible!
The electricity supply in my country is so poor that even when we do not get electricity, we still pay for it. This situation has resulted in many conflicts in the country between citizens and power supply staff or companies, where the citizens challenge the staff going around to disconnect electricity. I have seen situations where it led to a full-blown fight, and people got caught in the conflict. Also, whenever this happens, the community or city involved in the fight is usually cut off from the already shabby power supply that comes once in a while.
With this lifestyle in the country, a lot of people have completely moved away from using public electricity. They either own a power generator which they fuel with petrol or diesel, or they have a solar system. These two have become very common in residential homes in Nigeria.
What can be done to make the situation better?
What we are lacking in the power sector is proper management. Year in, year out, huge amounts of money are allocated to the power sector, and it has never been well handled or managed. No matter the amount of money given, the situation still remains the same. Yes, we need proper and fair management of the funds allocated to electricity, and we must ensure that things are put in place.
In Nigeria, electricity is generated from water bodies using constructed dams. And you know, Nigeria is blessed with this natural endowment of water, so it is not like we are buying the water to be used, no, we have it in abundance. All we need is a truthful body to genuinely oversee the operation of the power sector and bring out the best in it. Is this too much to ask? Yes, it is in a country like mine.
Thank You!
I wrote this in response to the #Aprilinleo prompt, Day 8. You too can join in the fun