The electricity jinx

Also published in Daily Trust

While growing up in my native Kano, I used to hear people lamenting the poor quality of public services and the dwindling quality of life in general. They would nostalgically recall how they were better off previously. I obviously believed them and indeed wished I was born much earlier. After all, just like other kids, I would often shout “NEPA!” to celebrate and cheer the defunct National Electric Power Authority, NEPA for being kind enough to restore electricity after long hours of power outage.

Though the situation was obviously frustrating, I had to live with it and suffer the associated disappointment resulting from my inability to, for example, watch the weekly Indian movies every Saturday on the NTA or iron my clothes, when I began to grow old enough to take care of appearance.

Besides, in my childish naivety, I used to think that, ‘yan NEPA i.e. NEPA employees would simply switch on the lights or turn it off whenever they so desired. Admittedly, in the event of power cut, especially while I was absorbed in something or looking forward to doing something that necessarily required electricity e.g. watching a T.V. show, I used to wish the innocent ‘yan NEPA bad luck, because I was actually too naïve to realize the dynamics and factors dictating the electricity supply, which were obviously beyond the control of those poor engineers and technicians at various generation, transmission and distribution plants in the country.

Having been constantly disappointed by the successive governments’ failure to deliver on their promises to provide the country with enough and reliable electricity supply, I had concluded that, the possibility of having a sufficient and efficient power supply in the country depends entirely on the country’s leadership willingness to live up to its responsibilities in terms of transparency in governance and commitment to excellence in service delivery.

For the average Nigerians, the persistent electricity supply crisis constitutes an unbreakable jinx that requires a miracle of a sort to break. Also, the accumulated notoriety of electricity supply sector over the decades is understandably too frustrating that nothing less than a tangible, substantial and dramatic improvement can inspire Nigerians with confidence in government’s willingness to turn things around in the sector.

Incidentally, one of the first things that usually impress Nigerians travelling outside the country is the sufficient, efficient and stable electricity, which even members of the ruling elite hugely acknowledge and admire, though, out of sheer sense of irresponsibility, they never feel guilty let alone get inspired to do the same in their own country.

Anyway, there are high expectations in the new electricity supply regime in the country, as a result of the systematic assurance from government and other stakeholders that the step being taken would end decades of poor electricity supply in the country. However, in order to avoid unnecessary disappointment, one should be cautiously optimistic anyway, because in Nigerian’s peculiar situation, things can’t be easily taken for granted.

In any case, while it remains to be seen if the new regime will actually make a difference, many people are wary that the new electricity supply firms may capitalize on the desperation of Nigerians to impose exploitative tariffs. This is notwithstanding government’s assurance to regulate the firms’ operations especially with respect to pricing formula.

People are concerned that government can hardly live up to its commitment in this regard. After all, the owners of such firms are obviously some of the rich Nigerians who owe their massive fortunes to their former positions in government or connections with some former leaders, former top government officials and/or their associates.

Moreover, Nigerians can’t forget their experience at the hands of mobile communication service providers in the earlier 2000s, when the foreign mobile telecom companies capitalized on the inefficiency and poor quality of telephone communication service in the country to defraud Nigerians by charging them exorbitant tariffs for very poor quality services.

Therefore people’s concern in this regard is quite justified, especially in view of the insinuation made by the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo who, as reported by Daily Trust on Tuesday, 05 November 2013, hinted at the possibility of imposing high tariffs for electricity, and effectively justified it by claiming that Nigeria already has the lowest electricity tariff in Africa.

He also hinted that, Nigerians will have to brace up for paying high tariffs initially before the market stabilizes, comparing the situation to the pain associated with the process of teething, and also arguing that he bought his first mobile SIM card in 1999/2000 at N45, 000 alluding to how its price has now fallen to as low as N100 or N200.

Though theoretically speaking, privatizing Nigeria’s decrepit electricity sector could perhaps be the only way to achieve the amount of improvement desperately needed, the effectiveness and success of this privatization and indeed other privatization exercises depend entirely on government’s commitment to the principle of transparency in governance, which is unfortunately lacking in Nigeria.

This is because, regardless of the high expectation in the on-going privatization drive that seems to target many more, if not all, public enterprises, the reality is that, as long as the status quo of corruption, incompetence and impunity persists in the land, it would simply give rise to the worst form of capitalism under which the average Nigerians will end up hustling and toiling only to pay exorbitant electricity and other utility bills for basic services that may not be efficient after all.