Article published in The Nation Newspaper

24/02/2010

Now that the Nigerian overdependance on the generator is identified as ‘LETHAL’ and a major world climate change issue by the World Bank maybe a technical and politically incompetent Nigeria will listen. Nigeria is retrogressing. We need 100,000Mw but have 2,500Mw in a country not at war, with no tsunami, no earthquake and pacified Niger Delta. Do we have no master plan for gas supply alternatives and no forward planning. Successive governments have not ‘governed’ and should all be tried for ‘environmental degradation’, ‘neglect and abandonment of the citizens’ right to a simple comfortable life’. Put simply, non-Nigerian humanity, has moved on from every-man-for-himself to collective power supply and transportation on national grids and mass transport buses and trains, leaving Nigerians in the Dark Ages of single or two person transport –okada- and single home power –generator- about 1 milllion each. Collectively they produce billions of cubic metres of carbon monoxide, billions of decibels of noise, health risks and irritability. Add the cost of millions of litres of fuel daily and you have the existing financial nightmare for every family and business but who cares in the cosy government run on generators paid for by taxes? ‘Pay your taxes’ but no tax rebate clause ‘POWER SUBSIDY/RELIEF’ to every family paying unreasonably for POWER-SUBSTITUTION  and also for business spending collectively billions monthly passed back to the Nigerian family which pays for each corporate expense and drop of fuel. Each generator and okada represents government failure –two million failures.

In economic terms the Nigerian family, not MAN or business or government, is suffering to pay for every generator. Even revenues from oil are reducing inflows into the Nigerian family pocket  as a shareholder in Nigeria. To become among the top 20 economies in the world is Utopian. However, to become a government useful to its citizens is not Utopian, is essentailly the only function of good government. We have failed woefully to get a service government. We are hovering at 15-20% of achievable goals in everything from exam success, electoral voting in Anambra, security of life and limb, motorability of roads and even less in power supply, filling of potholes, maternal and child mortality, fire-fighting in markets and an unaccountably abysmal near 0% for library books and sports equipment in schools. Can you imagine no library books in most of the 70,000 –and nobody cares in the country?  Which government will give us just 24 hour power?        

Have you noticed that in many artisitic impressions and artwork, and public  documents with map of Nigeria the River Niger and Benue, the ilekedi of Nigeria, is never stable. It is never too high but almost always too low resulting in a smaller and smaller South. In fact, Nigeria’s ilekedi is falling down well below Nigeria’s waist, like the obsene belt line of our young boys exposing their boxer shorts underwear and the appearing and disappearing thongs of our girls. This falling Nigeria’s ilekedi has the effect of our national rivers line, our national ilekedi, being nearer the coast than it actually is. It seems the South is shrinking. Has sea encroachment, eating up our Southstarted so early as part of global warming? Check Google to confirm exactly how far the Rivers Niger and Benue are from the national coastline and from the border with Chad and Niger and ensure that cartographers- mapmakers- generate only unbiased authetic highly accurate map material. If not the Rivers Niger and Benue, Nigeria’s ilekedi, will soon be around Nigeria’s feet and there will be no South, only refugees or boat people -thoeretically. The already existing satellite NigaSat1 pictures of Nigeria’s topography must be made widely available. The South was at first 2/3 of Nigeria politically if not by population and landmass. Now it is ½. Soon it will be 1/3 as the ilekedi sinks lower. Land mass is not population. The satellite pictures should be in school books showing accurate topography and rivers. This is a serious psychological component of a power play making some people feel inferior. In fact this strategy was a well known weapon used by the colonialists to wrongly draw the map of Africa 10-30% smaller than it was on globes and world maps. This was keep Africans thinking  ‘inferior’. It was only the space flights by the Russians and USA that truely made everyone realise the actual  size of Africa. We are tired of being manipulated by different ethnic groups.

Already the posturing is peaking. The ‘North’ is warning GL J to ensure the River Niger dredging continues. Yes, but the ‘South’ must ‘warn’ GL J to upgrade the Ore-Benin track by 1-10-2010 and commence the second Niger Bridge and finish the East West Highway.

This brings us to the issue of the population mathematics of Nigeria. Look at the perpetuation of mathematical ingenuity preposterous census figures. Nigerian public figures bandy 120m, 150m and now ‘nearly 200m’. Such wild assessments are dangerous, damaging and a disservice but allow politicans to plan inflationary moves as election ploys. The Anambra INEC claimed it had a 1.8m voters register. Only 300,000+ voted. Many could not vote due to wrong voters register from INEC. Were the voters 85% disenfranchised, disinterested or do they not exist at all – 1.5m ghost voters in just one state? What hope for 2011? CountdowNigeria@50-220 demands URGENT decentralised power, electric and political, to the people at state level.