After a three-week survey by electricity experts on why the nation experiences persistent breakdown of the National Grid, it has revealed that the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo did a poor job in the sector.
The survey completely exonerates President Tinubu’s administration and the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s management. The poll conducted in key cities, in the six geo-political zones, amongst a sample of 1,000 men, ages between 35 and 60 years, put the blame squarely on the doorstep of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration and former president Goodluck Jonathan. 55% of them attributed the persistent collapse to three major reasons: the absence of a strong will, incessant politics, and activities of existing cartels.
They lamented that the Obasanjo government, merely played politics with the matter, unknown to him, the decision would later come back to haunt them.
The respondents agreed that at a time when the opportunity was available, they paid lip service to the consistent blackout by refusing to replace obsolete equipment. ‘That’s where they got it wrong; there is no reason to point to anyone else; Obasanjo had it all going for him; his government was stable and so was the naira”, said one of the respondents. Another disagreed pointing to the existence of some cartels which mounted consistent pressure against innovations in that Power sector.
“We had a sitting president who wanted Nigerians to believe he was up to the task; and indeed, he was, because he was a retired military general”, said another respondent who pleaded anonymity.
The survey further reveals that instead of confronting the hydra-headed problem, the Jonathan government relaxed and got embroiled in corrupt practices. “That’s how those so-called cartels made away with billions of monies that could have enabled flawless electricity supply.
A further 25% of respondents believed that too much politics played a crushing role in stagnating that sector. “When you have a section of the country insisting eternally that they must be in control notwithstanding the circumstances, and thereby preventing square pegs in round holes and ultimately scuttling genuine development, how can the nation progress?” asked another respondent.
Only 10% ventured that the present administration has anything to do with the situation. “This present administration met rot on the ground; the last administration of President Buhari spent 8 ugly years doing nothing in particular; those were wasted years”, argued the same source.
He said, for example, in FCT, governance was dormant and at a standstill, except for those that have to do with abandoned projects; it was observed that it has taken Nyesom Wike ordinary 6 months to revive the moribund road networks. “That’s part of the problem besetting the electricity infrastructure which has now become problematic”, said the respondent.
In Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, kano, and Maiduguri, respondents were generally emphatic, that the Transmission Company of Nigeria was doing more than expected to get the situation under control. “When you look at the matter closely, that government agency needs to be fully supported and funded to get things back on track”, argued one of the respondents.
He expressed dismay at the overreliance on Donor Funding or Counterpart funding which more often than not fails to last the distance. “Stabilizing electricity supply should be a priority for the government, and this includes members of the National Assembly and the various stakeholders involved”, volunteered another respondent.
“The National Assembly must make good their so-called oversight functions and come clean”, he stated in one of the questionnaires. “How can you be doing oversight function and yet the nation is bedeviled with obsolete infrastructures, and you are looking for blame elsewhere”, charged another respondent. The Transmission Company of Nigeria has of late been the subject of serial attacks by social critics and uninformed observers.
