Electricity debacle: Amichi town in the eye of the storm
THE electricity problem in Nigeria is no longer as worrisome today as it used to be initially. It has sarcastically become accustomed to the socio- economic realities of the innocent people of Nigeria and its subscribers. Deep in the minds of the incorrigibly passive politicians produced in Nigeria, this abject outage of power may as well be considered a ‘ necessary evil.’ The oxymoronic terminology is oddly concluded as such because there are just a few undermining elements currently feeding fat on this distressing national predicament.
This is buttressed by the Igbo saying Obodo adighi mma bu uru ndi nze. Translated, ‘ the unwholesomeness of the society is to the gains of the privileged chiefs.’ I might as well further explain - the cabals.
National interventions by succeeding governments have met the brick wall. Why? Regional efforts to ensure that electricity emanating from generation to distribution is effectively delivered ultimately to individual and corporate consumers have also proven futile and abortive. The frustration, therefore, knows no respite yet. I am particularly concerned about the sincerity and the commitment level of especially the government handlers of the entire task of electricity provision to the ordinary citizenry.
The history of the multi- billion resources that have gone down the drain in search of stable power in Nigeria is replete with heartbreaking and sorry stories. In a sane and prudent country, 10 per cent of already expended funds from 1999 till date is amply sufficient to illuminate Nigeria nationwide. But here are political demagogues and shenanigans who parade themselves in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. We are thus plagued with such passive problematic politicians who prey on the populace as either hopeless parasites or undetectable liabilities. They bite with their mouth and try to blow away the pain with their mouth.
I want to narrate a first- hand experience of a very erratic electricity supply by the unbundled National Power Holding Company of Nigeria ( formerly NEPA) in a strategic town in Anambra
State called Amichi. This serves as a reference point for a similar scenario across the federation, if not worse.
Amichi town is notable for a few exceptions. Located in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State in South Eastern Nigeria, takes the enviable position as the venue where the ravaging Nigeria- Biafra internecine war was technically resolved. Ex- President Olusegun Kikelomo Obasanjo may not have had the compulsory cause to visit the flagship Eastern Nigeria state of Anambra throughout his eight- year tenure from 1999- 2007 until the twilight on January 7, 2007.
Striking two birds with one stone pebble, he found the time to visit this fascinating Amichi town and also to mark the septuagenarian attainment age ( 70th) of the pioneer Chairman of the Police Service Commission Chief Simon Nsobundu Okeke. 18 whooping years down the line, the town has gained rapid development in every other aspect except the availability of power. Other illustrious sons of this town are the late Speaker of the House of Representatives Chief Edwin Ume- Ezeoke, Chief Chidi Anyaegbu, Chief Executive Officer of Chisco Transportation Company, Chief Eric Umeofia, Chairman of Erisco Food Company, and many more. The aim of mentioning the prominent natives of Amichi here, I will inform you shortly in this treatise. In Amichi town, since the first time in 1981 when the first electricity pole was sighted, the provision of power has grown from bad to worse. This writer probed into what looks like either a hopeless situation or an artificial problematic morass at the hand of the town’s Vice President Mayor Jeff Okeke. My findings are related in the following passages. The height of the epileptic supply of electricity was witnessed by yours sincerely during the consecutive three weeks stay in my father’s land, from December 27, 2023 to January19, 2024. The best description of the summary is that the power holding company FLASHES light to Amichi residents. From the beginning of my arrival at the town popularly called ‘ Amichi Amaka’ which means ‘ Amichi is so good’ on December 27, it appeared that we were welcomed with the provision of electricity to the town by the NEPA management body industry charge of the town.
But before I could relax, the supply was abruptly interrupted. A visiting Chinese- Nigeria wife queried me during her short visit to Nigeria when darkness was being supplied by Nigeria Power Holding Company instead of light, “Light has gone out again, where did all the electricity go to?” I simply answered, “In Nigeria, members of electricity are used to convene a meeting, so I think they were attending some important fora.” She was further bewildered.
The prepaid meter billing system which was distributed across the federation was not denied in Amichi town in Anambra State. What happened was that “when the electricity managers realised that this prepaid billing system would be inimical to their private interest and attachment to filthy lucre and malpractice, they stopped supplying what was considered a dead end to their cash inflow.” Who bells the cat? It has become a welcome drudgery of this disgraceful anomaly in Nigeria. In other nations, the electricity supply is almost regarded as a natural phenomenon by the younger generation but for education due to its constant availability.
But in Nigeria, our unpatriotic government wants us to believe that it is such a privileged amenity that only the elite deserve access. Remember what the then Minister of Communications under the Abacha regime Senator David Mark said about who should have access to telephone services? Later, like what still happens today, when following the gaffes made by our unguarded politicians, efforts were made to deny or whitewash the careless comment.
In conclusion, I call on the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu and the South East region electricity board to look critically into the ongoing mess in the suspended disbursement of prepaid meter billing system to proffer a solution particularly the provision of power to the people.
Access to stable power in Nigeria shall diminish by 60 per cent the bulk of the national ills and plague. There will be employment, a decline in youth restiveness, an industrial revolution, and massive economic growth and sustainability. The rising cases of kidnapping, murderous escapades, and other heinous crimes will naturally fade away. So let there be light!