Some public affairs analysts have disclosed that Nigeria may not overcome its economic challenges if it continues to experience poor power supply.
According to them, many of the nation’s economic challenges are tied to electricity and that once the problem in the electricity sector is fixed, the country would have been able to resolve a large percentage of its problems.
These assertions were made by some think-tanks in public administration in their separate interviews with The Point.
A public affairs analyst, Jonah Eromo criticized President Bola Tinubu for increasing electricity tariff at a time Nigerians were yet to recover from fuel subsidy removal.
He said the loopholes in the production aspect of electricity whereby turbines have become obsolete with little or nothing by the government to bring them back to full functionality.
Eromo stated, “We need to look at the loopholes in the existing system we have in power. We need to look at the production aspect of it, mostly through gas turbines and we still have the grid at the dam in Niger State, we have the transmission grid which has been documented to be obsolete to a very great extent that had it been that we can actually transmit half of what is being produced, we should not be having this conversation about insufficiency in power.
“But, then, let us talk about the distribution which is in the hands of a few billionaires who dictate at what rate they are selling it to Nigerians.”
Another analyst, Eluyemi Omotoso, blamed power insufficiency on corruption and poor leadership.
Omotoso, former Dean of Students Affairs, Federal Polytechnic, Ede, pointed out that, “The government should please look into the retooling of the whole system. I am not saying they have to take away the licences of these power distributors, but we need more regulations and we need oversight as to how they can jack prices when it comes to power because without power, we can’t do anything in this country.
“We have to diversify. If the market is saturated with different suppliers, it is going to be to the gain of Nigerians. Hiking the price of electricity is not the best for this country for now. We are adjusting so hard to the fuel subsidy removal and we need to cushion more the effect of the problems we are creating.”
According to the analyst, “This recent increment in electricity tariff will affect a whole lot. It is going to bite hard and inflation may worsen.
“It is the responsibility of the government to increase our power generation. Fix the electricity first. It is terrible that the whole of our electricity generation is not enough for Yaba in Lagos to use.”
He decried the silence of Nigerians in the face of hardship, saying, “We are too docile in Nigeria and very complacent and we take everything that the government throws at us. Government should be compassionate, spend properly and fix electricity.”
Omotoso noted that Aso Rock doesn’t enjoy 24 hours power supply and neither does any agency of the TCN.
“What is actually wrong with us is leadership. If energy is fixed, most of our problems will be solved. We will increase our GDP and productivity once energy is fixed. There is no country where energy is not subsidized. Our leaders should not be removing subsidies on energy. What is affecting us is corruption and bad leadership. We need to fix this economy by fixing energy first,” he emphasized.
A founder of a tertiary institution in Osun State, Ibraheem Adeoti, urged the Federal Government to open up the borders as a means of addressing food inflation.
He said, “The problem with our electricity is transmission. There is not enough infrastructure to transmit them to the consumers. Power should not be removed from the exclusive list. Aside from Lagos State, over 90 per cent of other states cannot handle energy properly.
“But, I am optimistic that Tinubu’s painful steps on energy will soon pay off. I do believe that the quickest way to fix electricity is for it to remain on the exclusive list. I do believe President Bola Tinubu has the capacity to fix things in this country.
“He (Tinubu) should not make the mistake of making power go to the control of state governments. They have not been able to handle less severe assignments given to them. The president needs to buckle up his belt.”
