I must confess that I deliberately chose to use the acronym, NEPA, to express my view as it is more popularly acceptable to many Nigerians than PHCN. The acronym, NEPA, was derived from National Electric Power Authority while PHCN was derived from Power Holding Company of Nigeria. However, PHCN, which happens to be the latest and legally recognized acronym of the organization is seemingly not popular on the lips of the people as it is very discernible that it cannot be smoothly pronounced with ease in the same manner as NEPA which has even become one of the most frequently pronounced words by children and adults alike. It is not an exaggeration to say that the phrase “Up NEPA” has earned itself a place in the category of words which children often use to learn how to talk.
When the electricity generating and distributing company showed an appreciable sign of improvement in the last few months, not a few Nigerians skeptically predicted that NEPA, like the proverbial Leopard, would never change its spot. As it is at the moment, those who adopted a skeptical stance over the improvement in power generation and distribution across the country are today seemingly beating their chests that their collective prediction have come to pass. The sign of improvement which the power generating body showed in the recent past was very obvious to the extent that some key ministers in the on-going administration were at every point in time literarily using it as a trump card in the game of politics. NEPA‘s short-lived laudable performance, no doubt, worked for the Minister of Information during the “Good Governance Tour” he made to some states. He was always informing his audience of the noticeable improvement in power generation and distribution on every tour he officially embarked on.
But alas! Findings and observations in the last few weeks in the Lagos metropolis and suburbs, particularly within the Itire community in Surulere, Lagos have revealed that NEPA is truly like the proverbial Leopard that can never change its spot. Permit me to confess at this juncture that in the process of the drafting and writing of this piece that I resorted to the use of candlelight as we were literally in darkness for three consecutive nights.
In my view, the president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and some of his ministers who directly or indirectly exercise statutory functions over NEPA should not shout uhuru yet but should go back to the drawing board to think of how electricity can be generated and distributed across the nation without witnessing any period of retrogression as being witnessed at the moment in some parts of the country. Simply put, they should not rest on their oars as long as power generation is concerned.
For clarity sake, the word “Uhuru” which formed part of the title of this piece is a word that is used by the people of East Africa to denote freedom or independence. But are electricity consumers in our nation truly freed from the shenanigans and inefficient performance of NEPA? Personally, I would say NO. In my view, it is not yet Uhuru.
In fact, the searchlight that was beamed on the activities of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) that led to the success that can now be said to be an ephemeral success should be repeated again and again given the fact that there are lessons to be learnt from the exercise. With this, the mistakes made in one exercise can be used to advantage in the next exercise. In my personal view, I am very optimistic that there are saboteurs among the rank and file of NEPA.
There is no denying the fact that one good work that would make the names “Goodluck Ebele Jonathan” remain indelible as a good president in the political history of this nation is that of ensuring that he restores constant power supply to the entire nation.
In fact, no one would be correct to say that the current administration has not tried in its effort to restore uninterrupted power supply across the nation. However, I am of the opinion that more efforts are still needed in the sector to make it efficient.
First and foremost, whatever activities that were carried out in the past should be repeated over and over again as I earlier suggested in order to give saboteurs within the rank and file of NEPA a tough time and possibly to forestall their acts of sabotage.
Closely related to the foregoing view is that there are many disgruntled staff that occupy strategic positions in the organization. This is not far-fetched as many Nigerians are not unaware of the cat and dog relationship that exists between the union of electricity workers and the federal government as a result of the lingering disagreement over terminal benefits of PHCN staff. Against the backdrop of the disagreement between the electricity union workers and the federal government, can it not be deduced that workers can be stirred up to throw spanners into the wheel of progress of NEPA?
Therefore, this writer is using this medium to urge the federal government to do everything possible to ensure that there is an amicable relationship between the government and members of the electricity union.
Meanwhile, I am using this medium to urge the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government of president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to ensure that there is constant electricity across the nation without further interruption as it is very obvious that laudable progress in the power sector would send tremendous ripple effects to other sectors of the economy.
As for NEPA staff that occupy strategic positions in the organization, they should realize that our elders have said that “Those who are hiding under a roof should not agree to pull it down as doing that would bring the roof down upon their heads.”
In my view, the question NEPA staff should ask themselves is: “How can we contribute to the development of this nation as staff of NEPA?” Definitely, they should on daily basis answer this question in the course of their official activities.
In respect to the senior staff, like the various zonal managing directors, they should form a forum that would afford them the opportunity of meeting, at least, on monthly basis, and discuss the way forward. On a sincere note, any ear that heard in the past that supply of electricity had improved will tinge when it is told again that electricity supply in the country has once again taken a retrogressive trajectory.
•Isaac Asabor wrote from Lagos
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