Power sector lies By Lawal Ogienagbon

In the past few months, the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) have been all over the place, trying to justify why they cannot discharge their obligations to customers. It is heartrending that instead of effective service what we are getting from the DisCos are excuses on why they cannot ensure uninterrupted power supply. The coming of the DisCos, we had thought, would end the power crisis, but unfortunately, Nigerians are today cursing the day the sector was privatised.

The sector was privatised because the public utility running it was inefficient and ineffective. The Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) like the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) before it was like any other government agency, which was managed to fail. Though set up with tax payers fund, it was not run to make profit but to service the needs of those in power.

The affluent and the influential were also favoured. All they needed to do when they had no light was to call the power  minister or the PHCN chief executive and pronto their supply will be restored whether or not they are owing. Then, some institutions, corporate bodies and individuals used light without remembering to pay their bills. It was convenient for them not to pay because there was no mechanism to check them. The problem with our power sector was self inflicted. We preferred to run the sector on the basis of man know man and ended up destroying it.

Power is life; it is the engine of economic development. Without regular power supply, a nation cannot but be at the bottom of the development index. This is why I am pained by the excuses the DisCos are giving for their inability to meet the people’s needs. The promoters of these DisCos are not from the moon; they have been in this country ever since the days of ECN, NEPA and PHCN. They know what we went through in the hands of these public utilities. It is not an experience worth recalling here.

The DisCos are supposed to wipe away our tears by ensuring regular power supply, but they are compounding our problem. What we are getting from them are cock and bull stories about why they cannot do their jobs. The stories they are telling us are not new. They are the same old stories that we are aware of and which they too must have heard about before investing in the sector. Their investment was a matter of choice. They could have decided not to put their money into the business because of its many challenges. But having decided to invest in it they have no choice than to deliver because we are paying for their services. They are not supplying us light for free. They know what to do to those using light without paying.

But in punishing those people they should sift the wheat from the chaff. What is the point in disconnecting those not owing along with the debtors? That is the height of injustice and there is nowhere in the world that such a thing will happen, except in our country. Elsewhere, creditor-customers would have sued the DisCos for breach of contract. Why should we not enjoy the service that we are paying for just because some people are owing? The people are tired of hearing them blame  gas pipelines’ vandals for their inadequacies. An advertorial by the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) says the DisCos should not be blamed for what it calls ‘’lack of electricity’’.

Reason : vandalism of gas pipelines, according to the ANED, is equal to shortage of gas. Shortage of gas= low generation of electricity. Low generation of electricity= low distribution. ‘’We’’, it concluded, ‘’cannot give what we don’t have’’. Vandalism of pipelines did not start today; it predates the coming of the DisCos on November 1, 2013. So, it is something they knew about before buying into the power sector. Why did they take the risk when they knew that it is an endangered sector? Why did they invest in the business when they knew that vandals and militants can blow up the pipelines at any time under one guise or the other? How did they plan to handle this huge problem before investing in the sector? Or didn’t they consider such a scenario before their huge investment? If they didn’t that says a lot about them as businessmen.  Again, they should stop complaining about being owed. This too did not start today. It started long ago and they must have been aware of it before they acquired PHCN.

The DisCos are the architects
of their troubles. They knew
of the sector’s enormous problems before buying into it with their eyes wide open, but they were more interested on the return on investment (ROI), which they have calculated in their minds’ eye will be in billionfold of whatever they spend. This calculation seems to have backfired and they are taking it out on customers through tariff hike and crazy bills. Many customers are not complaining about the tariff hike, what irks them is that they are not getting value for their money. The people are sick and tired with the way they are being treated by these DisCos. Will the government call them to order before things get out of hand?

Ali: Forever The Greatest

When the kid from Louisville, Kentucky in the United States (US), hit the world boxing stage in the sixties with his razor sharp tongue, many would have thought that he would soon burn himself out and become history. But he went on to dominate the game for almost 30 years, clinching the world boxing heavyweight title three times. Muhammad Ali captured the world’s imagination like no other boxer in history. He was as fast on his feet as he was with his mouth. It was a delight to watch Ali fight. He fought with his fists and mouth. As he pounded his opponent with his fists, he followed up by taunting him. Many times, he ran into trouble because of his costly remarks, but there was no stopping Ali. ‘’The man who will beat me has not been born’’, he once said. “I am The Greatest”, he also boasted and the world accepted him as such. Ali was master of his trade. His passage last Friday after a 32-year battle with the Parkinson’s disease showed that he was a fighter to the end. The world mourns as the Champ’s funeral rites hold today and tomorrow in Louisville.Adieu, The Greatest.